seems that many crossed-up swells are raging through our waters right now.. OB was big and messy and daunting this morning at 6:30... we drove down to Pacifica and almost jumped in at Lindy as conditions were small and glassy, though closing out a good deal.. we then decided to recheck this random spot we sometimes surf.. but it wasn't really working.. soo.. we went home without surfing :(

i'm sure that many places are firing RIGHT NOW and that our boy Tom is probably out at Ross' Cove getting shacked..

any east coast stories of the hurricane swell?

e

I feel a bit out of the loop this morning.. I didn't check it yesterday afternoon as i had band practice and i didn't check it this morning as i was up late-night last night.. soo! i don't have first-hand knowledge of what the funk is happenin' out here right now.. From all the web reports (blakestah, surflink, surfline, surfpulse, stormsurf, pacificwaverider, pwizardry, surfermagforum, etc) it seems to be jumbly and blowy at OB, but with some NW wind-swell in the water and a 2.3ft 20sec South swell from 185degrees.. soo.. probably a GREAT day to surf somewhere in north santa cruz county! Tom, You're a Biiaatch for getting to surf good Waddel the other day. I'm jealous! that place goes off all the time it seems (as long as the wind isn't raging too bad). Maybe tomorrow morning i'll take a little road trip down there... 5ft high tide around 4pm at OB.. but not much tidal fluxuation today..

hmmm... wish i didn't have to work all day.

check out these sick pics of cordoroy rolling in

e

Cruised out to Sloat for the dawnie and was rejected by the hard-blowin' SW onshores.. there were a few sections to be had out there but generally the swell was down compared to the last two days and the onshores were crumbling the otherwise tempting walls. Looks like the powerful groundswell that has been in the water is no longer there.. i said yesterday that it was the SW swell from the South Pacific but according to Blakestah it was more of a NW swell that was producing the niceness.. dunno.. but.. anyway.. it ain't there now! or.. at least wasn't there early this morning.. because the wind was blowing out of the south i thought i'd give Lindy a try, as i was kinda jonesin to get wet.. cruised down, saw that Rockaway was super glassy but basically flat.. then lindy the same, REALLY glassy but very flat, with thigh-high closeouts every once in a while.. Maybe montara is working??

Blakestah mentions that a steep South swell will arrive on friday and then a super-long-period NW swell on Sunday.. hmmm...

for all you ASP fans.. the Hosseger event starts today.. www.aspworldtour.com

Solid waves this morning and yesterday evening at OB.. seems that the 210degree SW swell from the South Pacific is reaching into OB and unloading thick/barrelling pits onto the shallow sandbars.. chest/head high groundswelly waves on offer all up and down the south part of the beach (i didn't check anywhere north of ortega??)... You can see the Southern Hemi origins of this swell as most of the longer rides are lefts and the waves cruise in from the south.. I got really close to a nice barrel last night but just couldn't tuck my self tight enough into the face and ended up getting globbered by the thick lip right on the noggin. that was a bummer.. This morning i had a few really memorable rides.. one consisted of a pitching, pigdogging drop where i kind-of skidded down the face.. then raced along the ledging wall... then approached the sucking, inverted end-section where i pulled out just in time to feel the whole world explode behind me and then jettison me off my board. SO MUCH FRICKIN POWER!!! it felt good! On another wave I took off and went right.. had to glide on my stomach for a second to get into the wave.. then the bottom suddenly dropped out and i made the drop then bottom-turned with a fuckload of speed.. then turned up and slashed a meaty turn up into the underside of the pitching wave, basically under the lip. It was the first time i really made a turn up under the lip like you see in the videos all the time.. sorrowfully there was no barrel for me to then stall back into ... but.. that move felt soooo good..

anyhoo.. now i'm at work.. go get some!!!

tom.. no worries about pissing-off us employed folk with your midday updates! keep em' coming! let us know how waddell creek was if you go down there today!

e

sorry for the late report.. but.. there doesn't seem to be much going at OB today.. Supposedly it's up a bit from the near-flat conditions yesterday.. and we're supposed to see a building NW swell as the day goes on.. maybe achieving chest-high conditions by the end of the day.. the weather is foggy and cool in the sunset district..

If you're a fan of pro surfing.. you might be interested in the fact that the Figueira Pro in Portugal was just cancelled as lack of swell forced competition to go beyond the allotted waiting period.. equal ninths were handed out to all the 4th round contestents.. Andy Irons is still in the WCT lead.. with four Aussies clipping at his heels.. 4 contests left in the tour this year.. Hosseger, Mundaka, Sunset and Pipe!

It seems that nobody out there except for Robme and myself are fans of pro surfing.. anybody else a fan??

check out www.aspworldtour.com for all the details..

it also looks like Tim Curren and Chris Ward will make the tour next year, along with a shitload of Aussies.

not much surf out at OB this morning.. The fabulous NW swell from last week provided one more fun day on Saturday, then leftovers on Sunday.. and now pretty much nothing today (Monday).. Blakestah predictst that we'll have 5ft 14sec Northwest Swell by this Wed mixed with a windswell 5ft 11sec on Wed. as well.. soo.. we should be getting some waves in a few days.. Which is about perfect for me 'cause my body is virtually screaming for a rest after gorging myself on this recent swell..

Saturday was super fun out at OB with glassy conditions and some solid set waves (head-high) cruising through. Everybody and their mother and their mother's second cousin was out there smacking the lip and head-dipping into little barrel-ettes..

yesterday proved a fabulous beginners day with mushy/gutless waves.. Spotted a chubby guy with no wetsuit at Sloat on a longboard.. he was getting tons of rides too!

this is an email i received from my oceanographer friend Dan...

"Our second nw swell of the year is just beginning. This is forecast to
be a fairly strong storm even for winter standards. Problem is it forms in
the western pacific with about 4 days travel/decay time. If the next
couple days go as forecast we should see roughly an 8 at 17 sec swell from
about 295-300 degrees-just enough angle for san diego to get it. Arrival
looks to be on sunday. It should last about 2-3 days. Also arriving on sunday
is a 180 south swell about head high or so. It looks to be the last decent
south swell that we'll notice as the north pacific really seems to be waking
up. So count on some good waves sunday-tues next week."

Also in the news.. my band, Hexxagon rocked the proverbial hizouse on saturday night at a party in the mission.. We played a more formal, subdued set early on to an attentive 30-or-so people.. then funked it out around midnight with a free-form jam that had the more-raucous crowd of drunken revelers weaving and-a boppin' and groovin super hard. It was fun.. Some cuties in attendence too! always a nice feeling to get the lovely ladies shakin' their booties on the dance floor!

e

Glassy, head-high, barrelling, alot of waves, not many people.. umm.. i'd say it was basically going off this morning! Lerm and i surfed Sloat/Vicente from 6:30 till 8:15. The NW swell is still hammering away, but noticeably smaller than yesterday evening. There were plenty of lefts and rights on offer. Steep take-offs, fast, glassy sections with scrumptiously smackable lips all over the place.. GLASSY!! umm.. also some cleanup sets.. Everyone got caught by this one 800 wave cleanup set.. Jerm was inside for almost 25 minutes dealing!! i probably did about 20,000 duck-dives this morning! but i probably got almost 20 rides, many of which were schweet.. soo.. i'm not complaining..

Last night was heavier and much more serious.. sucking/ledging/frightening way-overhead double-ups rising up and fucking UNLOADING on the shallow sandbars.. I saw a few waves that just THREW out so fast and thick.. the lips projecting horizontally toward the beach like mini-Teahupoo.. seriously.. it was heavy at times.. it also seemed that surfers from all over descended on OB yesterday as i saw a LOT of shredding, by many peeps that i've never seen before.. SHralping even! huge airs, huge close-out barrels.. people just fucking charging so hard. OB is a crazy place..

anyhoo.. go get some right now! it seems that this indian-summer weather will soon be ending... : (

e

woke up this morning to sunshine and an offshore breeze.. Too bad i had to come to work early!! Needless to say i'm feeling some angst and depression about not being out there enjoying the sure-to-be perfect conditions.. I'm purposefully ignoring all surf-reports and surf media today until i can get down to OB for the after-work session. The swell was pumping hard yesterday afternoon at OB.. i surfed Ortega with a few others and enjoyed some bombs. The steep NW angle of this swell was evident in the long rights that lined up all along the beach.. Big waves, too.. I knew it was big when i observed from the other side of the great highway that it looked big.. It usually looks small and playful from the highway.. then you get out there and just get hammered.. soo.. i knew it was firing. On my first wave i paddled furiously to get into the beast but only succeeded in getting whipped over the barrelling falls and ragdolled around for a bit.. After that initial wipeout i got into a nice rhythm and scored some fast, meaty waves.. did a few high-speed top turns.. and dropped down some "big-wave" faces.. it was fun..

soo.. i know it's going to kill me.. but.. let's hear some dawn-patrol stories!

e

12:07 update! Here are some pics of Sloat this morning taken by Matt Walker.. also.. Jerm and i surfed Pacheco today.. just for the record..

yup.. big, gruesome and basically unsurfable at OB.. Jerm and I paddled out without being able to see the conditions because of the fog.. what we found was uber-chunky, lurching, totally disorganized, sucking, frightening close-out beasts.. we then spent about an hour an half trying to get in! Well.. not quite, but.. I basically got skunked for the first time in over a year.. i caught two shitty lefts.. Jerm caught a few good ones.. the most painful thing about the session is that i just found out that Lindy was firing on all cylinders!! FARRRKKK!! hope that Theodore doens't mind if i post a couple of words from an email he sent me.. Theodore, let me know if you mind and i'll take this down...

....
"rockaway rideable but really, didn't
look like 7@14, not even close.

almost turned around but decided to drive over the hill. lindy was
going off. big crowd early in middle of beach. the left at the north was
peeling really well, overhead+ and semi-consistent sets. that was 7am.
by 8:30 it was getting really inconsistent, tide must have been filling
in, forgot to check it, had to catch insides, still a few sets bombing
through though. some of the peaks must have been 8+ feet. beautiful
morning with the light fog, sea otters, fish jumping. first wave of the
day was the best, utter glass, overhead, spacious. lots of
opportunities for big open-face carves during transitions between sections. felt
kinda like outer sandbar ob, except for the paddle.."

FUUUCKKKK!!! that sucks for us OB surfers that got shit..
oh well.. lesson learned..

e

pretty shitty out at OB this morning.. i ended up sleeping in.. Blakestah is on top of the super early morning reports.. and he's got the lowdown on the upcoming swell and how it will coincide with wind conditions. I'm hoping to get some tomorrow dawn patrol and am willing to drive to make it happen.. Anyone have thoughts on where will be firing?

saw a rocking Concert last night; "Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains".. basically Les Claypool and Brain from Primus teamed up with the seriously unbelievable Buckethead to bring the mutha-fuckin' house down at the Great American Music Hall. Not only did they sensationally rock da house but they also performed this twisted/tripped-out theatrical performance where they donned these huge paper-mache masks and chain-sawwed George W. Bush's head off.. it was crazy..

anyhoo... doesn't look like there is much of anything happening in the surf zone right now.. but maybe after work today if you can find a pocket of wind-protected surf (P. Jetty, Ross' Cove, Lindy) you could be laughin! The wind is actually kind-of blowing offshore at 167 degrees at Lindy! hmmm..

e

Robbie made the great call this morning and skipped the surf.. fog and wind coupled with hacked, white-capped sea-surface and no swell to produce some really shitty conditions.. It took Jerm and I all of 3 seconds to decide not to surf.. HOWEVER!!! this is the email i received from my oceanographer friend Dan about the NW swell on its way...

"Hey guys looks like our first nw swell for the winter will arrive
tues/wed this next week. Very steep northerly angle, so santa cruz won't get
much, but swell could be as big as 8 at 17sec for ocean beach northward. We
may form a crew to come up to the beach tues or wed for the day. Let me
know who's interested..."

SOOO.. that's should be sweet..

some fun waves were on hand yesterday at OB. We witnessed some top-notch shredding at Kelly's, too.. A couple groms amping really hard and then a few older lads showing them a thing or two.. airs, floaters, giant hacks, flowy surfing, etc.. it was fun to watch.

here is some fun surf art

cruised down to Sloat this morning around 8:45 not expecting much. Noticed a relatively smooth sea-surface, then saw much surfer activity in the parking lot. Two main congregated peaks at sloat.. seeming to break better than 2nd lot sloat or vicente (north) but who knows... a two football field sized stretch of surf zone between the two peaks was unoccupied. Waves were walling up and peeling/crumbling/slightly-barrelling pretty much all over the place, and with some constancy. Most waves were measly and gutless. A few mini bombs crept in here and there, making the session exciting and worthy.. I caught a few peaky lefts with suck-out/crumbling drops, where you'd be throwing yourself over the ledge, then grabbling your outside rail and projecting/thrusting your board ahead and down the wave so as to better absorb the impact of the drop and to get out ahead of the broken lip and onto the concave, racy unbroken section. I then pretty much got into the mouth of a little barrel on a chunky right.. It was thrilling to be in there at all, even for a split second. I came out with a head of speed and did this big kooky top-turn while giggling and laughing and beaming because of the barrel experience. I think that part of the allure of the barrel experience is the intimacy you feel with such a sooth/fluid/powerful/beautiful expression of natural energy. Surfers often allude to the slowing of time or the slowing of motion, when describing what it's like to be in the barrel. Thinking back on the brief instant of barrellage i enjoyed this morning i see what those surfers were talking about. Somehow the pure speed of motion i felt mixed with the visually mesmerizing circular rotation of the mass of liquid energy around me to create a timeless sensation.. I can't, in truth, say that i felt that way while experiencing it, but now, looking back, that is how i remember my experience.. Something of profundity clicked within my psyche while experiencing that particular moment in the barrel, something having to do with many forces of nature and mind coming together into a focal point, and veritibly humming with significance.

ugly-ass OB barrel from early august

south swell Sept 11 ob

not too schweet out there at OB this morning.. Robme and i sat looking at sloat for about 20 minutes .. then didn't go out.. there were a few spotty sections and corners every ten minutes or so... but.. i mean... but...errr... it just wasn't working.. Looking back on it, all warm and cozy and in front of my computer, i feel that we probably should have hit it.. but.. standing atop of the cliff at Sloat this morning in the dark, windy, cold, dismal, morbid weather.. with one wave every 15 minutes... all i was thinking about was getting back in bed... which i promptly did! soo.. if you're jonesin' you could probably score a ride or two at OB.. or.. maybe explore the coast a bit and get lucky?? Mostly just a weak NW windswell at this point.. the South swell is down to 1.2ft 13seconds..

I dunno.. see what you can get out there...

Is the east coast still macking?

mark.. sad to hear about your heart... sounds like Hank Gathers or something.. good to hear that you're still charging though!

Toxi.. i'll try to deal with that linking issue within the comments field today.. that is super annoying.. i began to clean up some of that stuff yesterday but then got sidetracked by some work.. at work.. d'oh!

and.. thanks for the pats on the back in regard to femalian interaction yesterday morning... if it had been macking... and i was kinda not feelin' the girl that much.. i would have surfed fo sure.. but.. if i'm down with the lady.. and the swell is questionable.. then deep snuggle most definitely ..

word

e

i missed it this morning.. laying in bed with a lady-friend.. i get up at 6:10, fully ready to jump out of bed and hit the slurf.. when the lady says, "hey, do you want waves or sex this morning?"... umm... a quick vision of a jacking south-swell left passed through my mind.. then the comfort and warmth of the deep snuggle as a comparison.. umm.. but.. we might not have waves for a while... umm.. errr.. i think i'll stay here... sooo.. i missed the surf this morning... and it seems that Lerm faced a similar dilemna with his girly Anschmelica.. soo.. anyone out there get it this morning? Surfpulse says the south swell is basically gone.. that there are waist/chest hight west wind swell waves with an annoying SW wind chopping it up.. BUT.. it might be the last waves we see in a while, according to Blakestah! soo. that sucks.. it's supposed to be foggy, windy and chilly this weekend, with no real swell! sucks!!

anyhoo.. look over at the links on the right side of this page and check out some pics.. i'll also be posting some frame-grabs of some video that Kaiser sent in to me.. he captured a few of those sick, long, rolling south swell peaks from a few days ago.. nice work Kaiser!!

umm.. yeah..

also.. check this site with sweet norcal videos

e

well.. the solid SW swell is definitely still running! HARD! Jerm and i were expecting to catch the fading aftermath of this most enjoyable swell this monring.. we pulled up to the foggy parking lot at 2nd lot Sloat, and saw some glassy bombs cruising in.. We paddled out and quickly realized that shit was serious out there! Almost every wave barrelled, and the lips were thicker than they have been these last few days.. Jerm pulled into a giant barrel on his first wave and got completely obliterated.. I managed to avoid the barrel all morning :( but did connect on some uber-fast/chunky lefts and two rights.. About 6 or 7 large sets came through during our session but they proved too disorganized and weirdly breaking to actually ride.. the medium sized waves were the best, and just churned along the inside sandbar.. we saw MANY spitting barrels and also many seals! only two other surfers and they didn't take off on ANY waves! wimps!

anyhoo.. it's frickin good out there, though very serious.. know your limits!

thumbs down goes to Robme for bailing on this mornings sesh.. we missed you out there Robme.. you would have enjoyed!

"Frustrating South" - A friend of mine swears by Bolinas on the big south swells.. you might want to check it out.. i'm not sure about Cronkite.. might be worth the check.. though it sucks to pay $5 to get over the bridge..

Kaiser - i believe you on the broken leash.. shit has been thumping lately.. i thought for sure that i broke my board this morning while getting thrown with the lip then crunched by a few sucking/close-out barrels.. but.. miraculously.. no breakage!.. hope you get some today bruddah!

Kus - represent Jersey hard man! check out these pics from jersey
Jersey barrels
(thanks to Jerm for the link!)

shiit.. sorry about my late-ass report.. i was stuck in meetings all morning.. looks like peeps have been discussing on the board anyway.. nice!!..

well.. i fully enjoyed the South Swell wrapping into OB last night and this morning.. i've never seen such a distinctly south swell angle.. Sitting in the linup looking south, you could see three or four lines of swell all peeling/barrelling along the beach.. it was SICK!! i agree with some that it was tough to get into waves.. but.. i actually got into a good rythm (sp?) and caught a bunch of memorable rides last night and this morning.. Conditions were glassy and the low tide created some serious barrel action.. this morning i took off on this one steep set-wave peak, forced/willed my body/board into position.. then screamed down the line for a second, pig-dogging.. before seeing this GIHUGIC slab of barrelling wave throw out in front of me!! I instinctively turned toward the shore to get out of its fucking way and then the whole world basically exploded around me as the barrel impacted on the shallow sand-bar and detonated everything around, including me.. i basically went flying off my board but gleefully retained that vision of a seriously throwing slab of liquid guillotine doing its immaculate dance right in front of me.. that was awesome.. I mean.. i was fucking bugging out there this morning and last night.. it was SOOO cool to have that legit south swell pumping through.. with solid/glassy/steep/rippable/barrelling sections on offer.. i didn't get any sick barrel time but had a few barrel/cover-up/wave crashing on my head type of experiences.. It was also fun to just take off on some groundswelly lefts.. it really reminded me of taking off on waves in Indo.. kind-of slowly forming, distinct mounds of wave that rise and steepen as the approach breaking, and then just buckle and throw out when achieving critical bottom depth.. soo fun!! arghh.. i'm basically frothing over here thinking about it.. i was rethinking many of my morning rides while in my meetings.. i think that i kooked out on about as many as i "ripped".. but.. there was NOBODY out at dawn patrol at Sloat!?!! very weird.. but.. cool with me.. man!! i'm frothing!!!

woooordd!!

and it looksl like our east coast brethren are getting waves now too!! Kus sent in some pics of Costa Rica that i'll post shortly..

anyhoo. back to work for me..

go surf..

the SW groundswell was definitely showing at OB this morning.. but.. our session proved frustrating as it was classically difficult to catch and get into the infrequent beasts.. Robbie and i surfed at VFWs.. but maybe we should have checked sloat? At times the section of OB at VFWs looked like a lake.. just nothing coming in.. then you would see this attractive/glassy bomb on the outside that you just couldn't get to. it was frustrating.. I guess that south-facing breaks are really lovin' it RIGHT NOW.. Trestles is enjoying double-overhead bombs and i think that Santa Cruz is going ballistic right now.. Last night i watched the Steamer Lane cam for a while and noticed about 800 people in the linup! hard-core.. soo.. i'm not sure what to recommend to people.. Anyone surf sloat this morning? let us know how it was!

the wind is supposed to pick up this afternoon.. along with a fog-bank that's supposed to roll in out of the west.. soo.. a post work sesh might not be definite..

grrr..

pretty small and without power out at OB this morning. The surface looks real glassy from afar but the conditions within the impact zone are more jumbled and messy.. there are rippable sections here and there, however. The area between first and second lot Sloat seemed the best along OB.

Yesterday (Saturday) Jerm, Robme and I road-tripped south, looking for signs of the SW groundswell.. We began to see evidence in Half-Moon Bay, at Kelly Ave.. Peaky/groundswelly mounds were rolling in from the South.. but the wind was cold and strong and it didn't look tasty enough to draw us in.. We eventually cruised all the way down to Davenport, saw it was relatively flat, then turned around and surfed Waddell, where the swell was definitely showing and peaks were scattered throughout the beach. By the time we paddled out the wind was doing its best at ruining the conditions, generally causing havoc and knocking down otherwise rippable wave faces. Lerm caught a few nice ones... I witnessed him nail an expert take-off on a pitching/steep wave.. I wasn't feelin' it, however.. the wind was raging, throwing up eye-stinging spray, the waves were solid but hacked... I declared "bullshit" on the surfing and decided to cruise over to Ano Nuevo in our wetties and resume the session in the more wind-protected pocket of beach up at Ano... Lerm agreed and we cruised up..

Ano has a reputation for sucking/barrelling waves and intense localism.. soo.. we had that on our minds as we walked down the beautiful trail to the grandiose/arcing beach. The wind was raging out of the north here as well.. but a big, curving cliff wall protects the surf spot from the wind, creating groomed/glassy conditions. The waves were shoulder-high and barrelling.. On my second or third wave i dropped in on my backside, pig-dogged, and got briefly slotted, enjoying a quick moment of in-and-out barrelage, witnessed by Robme! soo.. needless to say, that was a highlight. A bunch of waves later i was started to get the bad vibe from this one surly local guy.. soo.. i came in and played with Silus (robbie's son) for a bit.. then i went back out with Robme to catch a few more.. I was just kinda flowing in my zone, getting waves, trying to bash the lip, etc.. I made a very poor decision on this one wave, however.. the surly local had the inside position on a wave, but i was able to get to my feet first, so i took off on the wave, then realized he was behind me and kicked out.. but too late! i come out of the wave to the sight of a pissed-off surly local who spit at me, "Are you fucking stupid! you stupid FUCK! What the FUCK! you FUck! etc.." i was about to explain my "first to my feet" philosophy then i changed my mind, kept my mouth shut and paddled away.. He paddles out to the peak and screams to all his cronies that i just dropped in on him.. shiiiiitt.. i took one more wave and got the funk out of there! it sucked.. but.. it was kinda my fault as i made the wrong move on the wrong guy at the wrong spot.. i should have known better.. but.. it's weird when you're in your rhythm.. at OB i would have been fine.. anyhoo.. I didn't let that incident ruin the memories of my little barrel and the other good rides at Ano.. that place is cool and most-definitely rages huge on the right swell.. the wind-protected nature of the little cove combines with the steeply sloping beach to create some classic barrelling conditions.. just keep a low profile!!

siiickk!!

we sat at Sloat and deliberated for a while.. actually got my wetsuit out of the car and began to put it on.. then came to the realization that there just wasn't anything to ride out there.. weird too because the buoys (pt. reyes) are indicating a 4.5 ft 11sec West swell in the water.. hmm.. BUT.. nothing whatsoever 'cept for sloshy chop was showing at OB... i think that Robme might have gone for it? Robme? anyhoo.. So. Cal looks sweet again and it seems that the wind is blowing offshore in Santa Cruz.. the wind is/was blowing directly onshore out at OB this morning.. and cold.. fark.. the last few days have been reall shitty..

Geezarks.. another lackluster day out there for bay-area surfing.. I cruised from Sloat down to Rockaway/Lindy and couldn't find anything worthy of donning the wettie.. there were a few optimistic souls flailing around down at Lindy, but other than that i didn't see any takers.. OB had a bit more size.. Blakestah mentions an increasing 10sec NW wind-swell in effect.. but the surface was just junky/messy/ugly..

the winds are up too.. blowing onshore at OB but fairly mellow side/onshore down in Pacifica..

good luck getting waves..

i ended up doing yoga last night and my body is feeling much looser and de-stressed.. After surfing about 22 days last month and then 5 sessions in the first 3 days of this month my back and neck were sore and tight.. Yogma to the rescue.. i go to the sivananda yoga center near UCSF on Frederick St..

anyhoo.. hopefully we'll get some of the south hemi groundswell everyone is talking about this weekend..

umm.. yeah.. things didn't look so hot out at OB this morning.. i think that if we hadn't just enjoyed many days of exciting surf i/we would have gotten wet.. but.. it just wasn't very inviting at all.. waist-high/chopped-up faint NW wind swell.. the wind blowing chilly out of the WSW.. a few corners and sections (mostly gutless) seemed available.. but.. it was just ugly.. I saw one guy out at VFWs after Lerm, Robbie and I took down some pancakes at Loui's.. maybe Pacifica is dealing with the wind better? maybe i was just grumpy this morning? dunno..

here's a taste of what So. Cal is getting RIGHT NOW!

anyhoo.. east-coast homie Theodore sent these killer pics of LBI (Jersey) from last week.. Jersey REPRESENT!!

well.. the warm weather and blue skies seem to have taken a hiatus out in the sunset.. waves are small and crimson (due to red tide).. I took the morning off and am resting my aching body after 7 consecutive surf-drenched days.. there are waves out there today if you're hungry for 'em.. probably won't be too crowded either.. supposedly there is a nice hurricane swell lining up for So. Cal this week.. i think that we will probably be shadowed from it up here in the Bay Area.. maybe a road trip down to LA or some shit if you have time.. then a phatty Southern Hemi groundswell is supposed to make its way up here by the weekend.. soo.. we might have waves this week.. just depends on how steep of an angle the swell will be coming from..

hmmmm..

i heard that the east coast had a good weekend? any comments from you east coast heads (Deni, Kus, Mark H?)

e

fading swell today.. waist to chest high glassy peelers.. the red tide is thick and pungent.. the water appears oily and bears and auburn color. check out this site for details..

the waves this weekend, however, were fabulous.. hopefully everyone reading this enjoyed some "tasty waves".. Both Saturday and Sunday saw solid, thick, ledgy waves, breaking hard and peeling. Just a worthy wind-swell producing the action, with maybe a sniff of S. groundswell thrown in too. These waves were very rippable. predominantly peaky A-frames with enjoyable lefts and rights. the walls were glassy and begging for bashings, slankings, two-steps, or any other improvised footwork a surfer might want to perform. My new board has changed my surfing drastically. An obvious improvement in maneuverability and responsiveness.. With my SF "big-guys shortboard" i often felt bogged down and sluggish.. my board felt like molasses while bottom turning.. then i'd have to work to try to get it toward vertical on my way back up the face.. This new board is all snappy and explosive.. i'll swoop down to the bottom on my frontside and dig-in to turn up the face and my new board will just push toward verticality with little effort.. Then, due to its lightness, it snaps/rebounds off the top with relative ease.. All of a sudden I'm thinking in more advanced directions than i previously had been.. Each time i take off i'm really focussing on getting vertical (vertical=bottom-turning and then achieving a vertical path on your way to the top of the wave) and then performing some maneuver on the lip.. Right now i'm mostly trying to snap and pop off the top, trying to get the nose of my board up above the lip of the wave before i pivot and re-enter the face. On my backside, though, i'm also entering into the world of consciously sliding my tail and getting my fins out of the water. I start feeling good about my "game".. and then i see someone really shredding.. like today i skated down ortega a few hours ago and watched some dudes surfing the peak there.. this one guy was generating so much speed on these little gutless waves.. and then popping fast/horizontal airs... He wasn't flying high into the air, but was soaring horizontally just above the lip, then landing and immediately laying down impressive carves.. man.. that's the shit i want to do.. fast, committed carving 360s, phat/effective airs that act to project you over close-out sections back to the peeling face of the wave, monster barrels that thunder around you and then accelerate you outward as they close.. yadda yadda, etc.. actually.. right now i'd just be satisfied to "bash the lip good!".. soo.. one step at a time i guess..

peace

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