how gnarly is this pic from OZ!!!

i bailed on surf this morning.. like a punk. but i did my little "power hike" along this mountain ridge in the sunset (Moraga Heights to 14th and Pacheco) and i got a stellar, aerial view of the action at OB.. The sea surface looked tantalizingly glassy and there were lines of disheveled cordoroy out to the horizon.. I could see about 4 or 5 rows of whitewater from my vantage 30 blocks away and i also could see waves peeling and peeling along.. It looked very big, but inviting (from a mile away!!! ).. i'm sure it's huge and gruesome in reality.. but.. probably surfable. The "ride of your life" probably exists out at OB today.. ya just have to earn that shit!

soo.. I'm lame for bailing.. i'm sure that Santa Cruz will be firing... again... as usual.. and most of our spots will be unsurfable and ugly... again... as usual...
but... chin up.. hopefully as this swell fades we'll get some sweetness..

e

the swell is definitely here.. OB was pushing double overhead and was menacing and daunting with the onshore wind.. i didn't see anybody out there. It wasn't totally unsurfable, however. I saw quite a few glory sections and i'm sure a few chargers will take a crack at it..

The swell actually wasn't getting into Lindy that much.. i think that swells with more westerly direction don't get into the south side of lindy that well.. However, the conditions were junky and ugly and, although there were about 10 people in the water, i didn't see one ride in about 7 minutes of watching.. I then drove down to the Princeton Jetty where waves were breaking, but the shape just wasn't working.. waves would cruise in and either all break at once or kind-of warble, mush-out, then explode on the inside.. it was ugly.. One gremmie was out there, and he made a few drops, but.. it just wasn't worth it.. Montara was huge and gnarly..

huh.. it's weird.. all the wind charts say that it's blowing offshore.. which i observed at Lindy.. But i could have sworn it was blowin' onshore at OB this morning, and the conditions definitely looked that way. hmmm.. 3ft low tide at 1pm.. no action at the points.. Santa Cruz and North Santa Cruz county spots definitely the call today..

scroll down to check out a sick Jersey pit..

e

check out this jersey barrel from last weekend (courtesy of localswell.com)

cool pic of Eddie Aikua (Eddie would go)

seems that the NW swell is beginning to fill in at OB.. The wind was very light this morning and the skies clear. Set waves breaking very far out, with about 5 or 6 rows of whitewater between the beach and the lineup.. I surfed Sloat for about 1.5 hours but didn't score any sweet rides.. I actually only rode two waves the whole session.. One right consisting of a steep drop then a bottom turn, then a pump along a racy wall before the whole thing closed out.. I also caught a phatty left where i made the ledgy drop, pigdogging, but then the wave just petered out.. The conditions were pretty raw and disorganized.. I saw many beautiful, glorious big-wave sections but i just couldn't get to any of them. I took a few sets on the head and generally felt like a little bug in the land of giant waves and huge currents. It seems that the last three NW swells of this season have all began with junky, disorganized, chaotic conditions at OB... and then groomed themselves as the days of the swell proceeded. Is that true of swells in general?? I didn't think so.. but it has seemed that way this season.

anyhoo.. that's the scoop..

tom and DY - thanks for the birthday greetings!! yeah.. tom.. the naughty schoolgirl had *it* goin' on.. seriously.. you could conceivably bounce quarters off her thighs they were so toned. deeaaamn!

DY.. sick about the VA beach barrel fest.. East coast represent! I'll post that pic you sent me.. Oh yeah.. also.. Lumpy is leaving for Paris tomorrow! we're all very sad to see him go..

VA beach goin' off... photo courtesy of our main man Dr. DENIIIII!!!!!

e

well.. based on the fact that i skipped surf to come in to work early, i'm sure the conditions are unbelievable.. probably about head high with tons of waves, offshore winds, bikinis on the beach, clear/turquoise water, feathering lips and only a few heads in the water.. ahh... we'll have to wait for a report from Lerm or Robme or Tom or Kaiser or Scott or somebody for the real scoop.. The cams all show too much fog to see the waves but the weather was bright, clear and crisp this morning in the middle-sunset district, with very little wind. According to the wind charts there is a very mellow onshore flow at the beach.. I guess that a new NW swell will start to develop this afternoon or tomorrow and then rage through wed and thursday.. Predicted 17sec energy will probably light up spots like Mavericks.. Dan Jones predicts that OB will be maxed out and he says that Thursday is the "call in sick" day..

surf this weekend in the bay area showed patches of intrigue, but was otherwise mediocre. Saturday (my birthday!) Lerm and i headed down to Lindy.. The wind blew out of the SW so we figured that a ride further down the coast wouldn't be that fruitful.. Schmlindy was throwing up some overhead, crushing close-out bombies along with a smattering of barely rideable, fast-peeling walls.. Lerm nabbed a few fun ones and i caught one memorable right were i pumped along for a second then steered up to the top of the wave and began a sizeable floater before i veered off the back of the wave instead of completing the maneuver down to the base of the wave.. Cruised home after the sesh only to be surprised by many of my friends at a surprise BBQ at my house.. Many beers and bowls and crispy-creme donuts later Cranial Bulge (featuring Dr. X) put on an inpromptu concert in our backyard.. Ladies were swooning and guys were pumping their fists as we rocked da "proverbial" hizouse. Later that night at a holloween party the swill was again flowing and the scantily-clad "naughty schoolgirl" and "naughty secretary" and "naughty mermaid" and "naughty zombie" were all slanking around in their hollows-eve skimpyest.. It was enough to make this jaded wave-warrier blush and smile.

Sunday saw more rideable conditions at OB... but when i surfed (around 11am) the tide was real high and the big beasts were breaking mushily and then petering out before reforming into disorganized skull-crunching chaos on the inside.. eh.. but at least we weren't forced to surf Lindy!

umm.. yeah.. this morning was extremely enjoyable out at OB. Pulled up as the dawn was cracking and noticed that my hair kept blowing into my face as i looked out at the water.. Hey! wait a minute! it's blowing offshore!!!! yup! and so it was.. shoulder/head-high waves cruising in and then feathering and peeling along beautifully! Basically the cleaned-up remnants of the mega swell we've seen all week. I suited up as fast as possible then almost tripped over myself running down to the beach and into the water.. I knew with the mellow conditions all the "fair-weather" surfers would be out in full force.. As i paddled out i looked left into a breaking wave that was utter, sheet glass and barrelling with a tantalizing, easy little barrel!! AHHH!!! First couple of waves closed out on me... then i caught this bomb way on the outside and enjoyed about four or five bottom-turn, top-turn comboes all the way to the beach!! probobaly one of the longer rides i've ever caught at OB. The offshore winds were making the lips SOOOO impecibly smackable i was basically convulsing and drooling with barely contained froth.. I was basically twitching out there with excitement.. I caught this other bomb right... pushed over the ledgy drop.. grinded through a full-speed bottom turn.. then tried to just destroy the lip on this overhead wall.. i hit it resoundedly and successfully but then didn't get my board back out in front of me and toppled end over end over the falls.. arrghh.. almost!!!

man.. i hope y'all got some..

though.. chargers might be bored out there.. conditions more geared for shredders, longboarders and people who like little beach-break barrels with offshore wind!

e

Rocked up to Slizoat at 7am this morning.. conditions looked big but doable.. Alot of foam and residual white-water from the bigger sets. Got down to the beach and it looked like the paddle-out was going to be a bitch.. but.. it wasn't really too bad.. Meaty, overhead peaks rolling through.. Super fun bigger-wave drops followed by some workable shoulders.. Nobody but Jerm and I surfing.. then just me for about 40 minutes.. I couldn't believe no one else was coming out, but i wasn't complaining.. Felt so good to paddle into some sizable, chunky, waves that were actually rideable and not disorganized masses of chaos. The weather was cool and clear, winds blowing gently onshore, but not mucking the sea-surface up too much.. Sea lions surfing the waves with us.. Some of the biggest faces nearing double-overhead size but not barrelling or anything so mere mortals like me could be comfy out there. Man.. what can i say.. i'm finally stoked on a session after many days of shittyness.. I saw Anastasia and Beth Price in the parking lot and talked to them for a bit.. My hat goes off to those ladies for charging OB and representing for the ladies!

oh yeah.. also.. i read in one of the surfpulse features that a surfer at VFWs on Saturday got sucked all the way around to China Beach!!! and then was seen hitchiking back to OB on Geary Blv!!! isn't that crazy! geez! i've seen people get sucked out to sea at Fort Point.. but it's easy to paddle to the beach on the West side of the bridge and walk back to Fort point.. but.. getting sucked from VFWs around all those cliffs and rocks and old boat wrecks and such, all the way to China Beach.. that's frickin scary!!

anyhoo.. i'm off to a meeting..

e

blowing and cold this morning.. waves jumbled and messy and basically unrideable at OB.. grr.. Everybody talking like, "Damn, we skipped over fall and went right into winter!".. that would suck... Since January of last year we've had about 10 days of offshore wind and 200 days of onshores.. or, at least, that's what it feels like.. It would be interesting to see a breakdown of the different areas of california and the percentage of time wind blows from different directions (i.e. 70%NW, 5%E, 20%SW) I wonder if it's unusual to have onshores as much as we do here in SF or if that's the norm.. I know that So. Cal has the Santa Ana winds that blow offshore, but i'm not sure how often they blow? It's a bummer right now because OB would be sick today if the winds were right.. the swell is a challenging/fun 5ft 13 seconds. I'm not sure what to advise in terms of where to get waves.. Santa Cruz will probably be firing as the tide goes out at the end of the day.. and North County spots like Davenport and 4 mile likewise.. Sometimes i wish that i lived in Santa Cruz.. but then i'm reminded of the vibe and the crowd and the "scene" and it's almost enough to overshadow the presence of some of the best waves in America. I just hate being in the water at Swift Street or 3-mile or wherever (other than cowells and O'neils) and feeling that everyone in the water is a 25 yr. old, seasoned, stinkeye-giving rippah. Maybe it's just the fact that the movie "The Lost Boys" made a lifelong impression on me at an early age about what the santa cruz vibe is all about and now i'm always seeing it through that lense. dunno.. i feel the "too cool for you" vibe so strong there.. but maybe it's just because i'm a "tranny" east-coaster who grew up surfing in Jersey and therefore has no right to barrels at Mitchell's Cove.... or something.. i don't know, i'm just rambling here.. sorry if you're thinking.. "what the hell is E talking about this morning.. why won't he just shut up so i can get back to fiddling with my server configuration file or checking out consumptionjunction.com or tweeking my nipples or snoozing or whatever.."

anyhoo.. shouts out to Blakestah for giving the consice lowdown on upcoming swells and making predictions about when the wind might turn around!

- out!

e

did the whole drive this morning.. woke up at 6:15.. headed down to the jetty to try to get lucky.. As the sun came up i saw that it was basically flat, with a few mini peelers cruising through every 10 minutes or so.. i got my wettie out and started to take off my sweatshirt.. then looked at it for another 5 minutes, didn't see one rideable wave, and started to drive north.. Montara big and messy.. Lindy small and dumpy.. a few rideable sections... *maybe*.. but long waits in flat, dirty water for those sections.. Rockaway bigger but really messy.. huge close-out barrels mixed with nice sections mixed with garbled junk.. I didn't have time to see OB on my way back but i saw it in the dark on my way down and was bummed by the moderately hard-blowing onshore winds.. waves looked to be breaking pretty far out.. i counted about 5 or 6 rows of whitewater.. grr.. sucks to get denied.. i ended up driving for about 1.5 hours too! grr..

here's a big of OB on saturday, Oct 19 taken by Brian Biggs

here are some cool pics of Pipe from this last swell taken from an unusual angle

"here's a little story.. i'd like to tell..."
Out in the lineup. Sky barely light with the new
morning. Foghorns bellow and boom, warning ships
of potential doom. A wave appears on the horizon,
causing an immediate bodily reaction. Down on the
board, start paddling out to meet the growing wave.
Your heart and blood start pumping as you see the
mound rise up. Spin around and dig in toward the crux
of the breaking wave. Suddenly acceleration takes over
and a ledge chasms out in front of you. A quick and
deliberate push and you’re in. Jump to your feet,
outside hand on the rail, butt-slide pigdog down the
face.. Turn at the bottom and recognize the vertical
wall about to envelope. Lift and pump to get the high
line, hand back on the rail as the curtain throws out.
Experience the time tube telescope extend out away
from you, you get deeper into the barrel. A primal
willing directs your line through the tube, the
telescope recedes and you fly out. A little backhand
pump for speed, then crunch down and dig-in for a
swooping bottom turn that directs you vertically up
the face. Pivot through an explosive, arcing slash with
a deep, resounding exhalation. Pffwhooooommm… yeah..

8.5ft 17sec at the SF buoy right now.. that's pretty sizable.. I didn't even check OB this morning.. i sneaked in a dawn patrol at Fort Point and caught a few fun waves with only 2 others in the water.. It wasn't epic or anything and it basically shut down after about 45 minutes.. but each of us caught 5 or 6 rides.. a few of which walled up and peeled along for a bit before mushing out.. This afternoon at low tide ought to be a complete and utter zoo at FPers.. Yesterday i watched for about an hour at Fort Point.. There were seriously almost 40 people in the water and every wave was heavily contested.. there were, however, MANY fantastic waves cruising through.. a few meaty barrels reered up and peeled along as well.. the whole "San FranPsycho" posse was in FULL effect.. complete with hecklers in the parking lot and everything. I didn't see the dreaded Ryan out there so maybe he's still in jail! which would be sweet. I would have loved to catch some of those waves but i had already surfed that day and just didn't feel like jostling and joisting for position the whole time.. Deadman's was going a little with about 5 people out and 2 waves every 10 minutes..

good luck... and.. know your limits if you're thinking about OB or Mavs or some such..

e

Huge day of surf in the bay area.. probably all of the west coast in fact.. OB huge again.. Nobody out near Ortega around 10am.. I witnessed two coast guard boats diddling around in the double-overhead shorebreak!! seriously! It was weird.. cars were pulled over on the great highway watching. I'm not sure what was going on? weird.. a few dudes out at sloat.. i didn't see any rides.. Saw some money sections though.. thick thick walls peeling then barrelling then peeling along.. Also saw some nuclear detonations that would seriously smash boards or heads if some sorry surfer happened to be in the wrong spot..

bunch of people out at Rockaway.. the left point was "kind-of" working but not really.. people were taking huge drops in the middle of the beach on thick close-outs.. didn't look that appetizing.. Lindy was a total zoo.. i think there was a kayak contest going on.. I didn't even pull in to the lot.. just kept cruising.. Jerm surfed there and said it was crowded shite...

Pulled up to the Jetty and saw some peaks cruising in.. about 10 guys.. ehh.. looked ok.. i kept going.. checked some random HMB beaches.. didn't see anything promising.. went back to the Jetty.. saw a grom get shacked on this little inside grinding right and make it out! so i suited up and paddled out. these three groms were shredding very hard.. airs, barrels, huge grab-rail cutbacks that emitted that, "thwachiggida chiggida" sound of rail cutting through water.. This one guy just kept stuffing himself into these little barrels and making it out! I caught about 10 or 12 rides in 1.5 hours.. It started to get crowded so i called it a sesh..
the waves were doing the classic Jetty wedge.. rights rearing up and peeling along briskly.. I also scored a few fun lefts.. it was fun..

this afternoon i cruised over to Ft. point to try to get lucky.. It was seriously going off over there.. but all 40 people in the water seemed to know that already!!! it was a total mob scene and the whole "San Franpsycho" crew was in full effect.. the waves were great though.. "wrappers" cruising in and throwing out.. a few longer, point-breaky waves coming in.. a few girls were representing pretty well.. Also this one guy pulled into a gigantic "wrapper-wave" barrel that had everybody in the water and in the peanut-gallery hooting and yelling.. He didn't make it out though... Deadman's was barely breaking.. I went for a run..

tom.. thanks for the report yesterday.. that's some crazy shit..

e

massive waves rolling and guffawing into Ocean Beach today.. definitely pushing double-overhead on the biggest faces.. Ocean surface warbling and messy with a lot of residual foam from the sets.. The long period of the swell providing some moments of calm between sets.. Around 10 this morning things were big but relatively mushy on the outside and then randomly walling up and throwing out disgusing, sick pits of chocolate destruction on the inside.. People were paddling out, people were washing around on the inside, not getting anywhere.. I saw a few fast/steep/big-wave drops but not many down-the-line rides.. It looked intense but doable.. We briefly considered then pussied out and went south.. yes.. we suck.. ended up at good ol' Lindy, after passing on the P. jetty.. I saw waves breaking out at Mavs.. On a scale of surfing sweetness Lindy scored a 2 today.. Head high set waves closing out beach wide.. waist-shoulder high 'tween set waves peeling along some of the time.. I got some pumps and little clicks off close-out sections and a little backhand snap and a few fun drops.. the water was filthy with scum and churned-up seaweed and such.. the smell was briny/trashy.. the surroundings were beautiful.. misty mountains with rays of sun shining through.. probably 150 people in the water! everybody packed in south of the showers.. Lerm and i in the middle-north of the beach.. Just not much going on in the way of good waves and schmlindy..

tomorrow should be big again..

e

sorry.. some suckerfish server hiccups this morning?? though i might be wrong??

anyhoo.. dismal conditions out at OB this morning.. I checked most of the beach (Ortega to Kelly's) around 7:15 and didn't see anything that really approached "worthy"... and i have pretty lax standards. The onshore wind was really mucking things up.. waves were bumbling and rumbling messy and stormy.. the swell looked to be significantly down since yesterday... but blakestah predicts increased swell for the weekend.. with some super-long period action (20seconds +) filling in! hopefully the wind will cooperate or else everybody will be cramming into the scarce south-facing breaks..

if you're in super-jones mode you probably could catch a few on the inside at Kelly's.. i saw a few makeable and almost-fun squirmy little sections peeling along... dunno.. I feel out of the loop as i haven't been driving for surf lately.. just checking OB..

go find some..

e

good conditions at Ortega this morning.. a bit of a wait for waves but head-high groundswell pulsing in every 5 or 10 minutes.. grey, overcast sky over a grey, bumpy ocean. The waves had power but seem to have diminished since yesterday.. Most of the waves had nice shoulders too, with steep, thick walls and a few dirty barrels. I drove down to Sloat first, then down to Ortega.. It seemed that conditions were much better in the middle of the beach.. waves were bigger and had better shape.. This one Latino guy (brazilian??) that i always see at OB and Deadmans was out and he was just killing it! Huge air drops into giant gaffs then two or three more gaffs, then a speedy roundhouse... all on one wave i saw him catch.. that guy rips! I caught a few nice ones myself... did a nice, sweeping backhand gauge, also a fun, speedy frontside cutback that felt good.. but then i got into a rut for the last 30 minutes of the session.. i felt like all the waves were breaking a little too far this way, or a bit out of my range that way.. I was getting frustrated and losing my flow... then this behemoth right rears up for me and i spin and go.. but just get launched over the falls and held down for a while.. had to consciously stay relaxed and perform the Robme technique of counting under water to remain calm.. finally popped up and decided to call it a sesh..

really good today.. probably will continue throughout the day.. it also looked good yesterday evening... I skated down Ortega to check it, thinking it would be crap.. then saw some nice, ridable bombs cruising in.. should be barrelling for the afternoon low tide.. wish i could hit that shit..

e

grrr.. drove the full route this morning and didn't get wet.. that always sucks..

Sloat - BIG! ROUGH! 4ft 13sec NW swell showing.. looking almost like a big south swell.. but??? very setty.. with sometimes 8ft crumbling/dumping faces all breaking at once across the beach... a few incredible glory sections evident but too mixed with huge closeouts and sure poundings.. one guy was out but i didn't see him catch any.. if you're a big-wave enthusiast or just an OB charger you might be psyched!

Rockaway - flat!

Linda Mar - beach-wide crumbly close-outs every ten minutes.. then pretty much flat in between the sets..

Montara - good wind conditions (no wind) and a nice sea surface but raw, rough-and-tumble swell sometimes barrelling, sometimes closing, sometimes peeling.. breaking all over the place.. no defined line-up, nobody out.. potential for goodness if you're a charger...

Ross' Cove - didn't check but probably should have..

Princeton Jetty - sea surface was perfect, no wind.. but the tide was too high and the waves were basically breaking on the jetty itself.. I heard from a guy at Montara that the Jetty was "going off" last night with the low tide.. hmmm...

anyhoo.. anybody out there have any better luck?? I'm sure that the Santa Cruz area will be fricken going off later today as the tide goes out.. hopefully the wind won't kill any chance we have for afternoon waves as it's supposed to blow pretty hard out of the west... grrrr...

e

I sat at Sloat for about 20 minutes this morning debating whether to go out.. Onshore winds (WSW) were blowing pretty good.. but not raging.. signs of the south swell were showing.. with obvious sets coming through with lefts peeling better than rights. The rideable sections were few and far between, with most of the waves crumbling and then closing.. I saw one guy paddle out and do about 10 duck-dives for every 1 measly drop he got.. I bailed.. though now.. warm in my office.. i'm kinda wishing that i paddled out for some sections.. oh well.. if you're jonesing hard you could paddle out and get a few.. it's just not that good..

I'm still reeling from the terrorist attack at Kuta Beach, Bali.. I'm sure that many many surfers were killed and injured in the attack.. probably over 100.. It really hits close to home for me, as i spent time chilling in both those clubs.. scary.

Kus.. thanks for the footbag thoughts the other day.. you forgot to mention your own sandaled clipper stalls, mirages and flying clippers!

Robme.. tomorrow we should dawn patrol and get wet regardless of conditions..

scott.. duck diving.. hmm.. duckdiving is similar to olleying on a skateboard in that it involves a subtle, quick movement and use of leverage that is difficult to convey via words. As you paddle toward a wall of whitewater, place your hands on the rails and the ball of your dominant foot in the center of the back of your board. Hopefully you have some forward momentum from paddling as you begin the duckdive. When the wall of whitewater is about one-foot (maybe 2 or 3 feet as you're learning) in front of you, sink the front of your board by pushing down on the rails.. this is sometimes made easier by kind-of turning your board a bit to the side so that it slides down under the water... as you duck your head under the water press down hard with your back foot (on the tail of the board) and push forward with your hands on the rails.. at this point you should be underneath the crashing white-water and moving out to sea.. keep pushing with your back foot until the front of your board turns upward and you pop up out of the water... ready for another duck-dive.. there are some good tutorials on the web with pictures (video?) that i will try to track down..

if it makes you feel any better.. i learned to surf down the line, both backside and frontside, before i learned to duckdive.. it took me a while to get.. but is a NECESSITY at places like OB and in Indo..

good luck! good to practice on small days when you might not even need to duckdive..

here is a cool pic from an island off of Portugal...

e

FUUCKK!!! i just found out about a terrorist attack in Kuta Beach, Bali!! over 200 people dead!!! Two popular bars/nightclubs.. one called Paddy's and one called the Sari Club.. I TOTALLY hung out at both these places as they are the middle of the nightlife scene at Kuta Beach.. Most of the people injured or killed were Americans/Australians, Brits and other western surfers and travellers!!! Those of you who have been to or are familiar with the Indo scene know how frightening and shocking this news is!!! Kuta Beach is not some remote, out-of-the way Indo destination.. it's more like Huntington Beach meets Disneyland. Tons of surf shops and bars and bikinis and travelers and surf.. This is very very sad and disheartening and shocking for me.. I spent much time in Kuta Beach and am morbidly invisioning the scene that must have went down.. SOOOO SAD!!!!

What up surfers! seems that there is a 3ft 15sec WSW swell running right now.. combined with some NW wind swell.. Conditions at OB are supposedly junky but rideable.. i actually took the morning off as i returned last night from a three-day surfing/camping road-trip up into northern Mendo with my moms.. I found some fun waves at Mendocino Bay on Saturday and then at Alder Creek yesterday, which is just north of point arena.. Moms and i camped on the beach one night and then in the redwoods the next.. it was fun.. I checked out some other surf breaks up there too.. like Mackerricher state beach, Virgin Creek, Irish Beach and the mendocino reef.. The natural beauty up there is inspiring and grandiose.. Huge trees, huge mountains, huge rock outcroppings in the water.. huge kelp beds, huge ganja colas! We met some cool surfers from Oregon and also had the highly unusual pleasure of having a local see us looking for surf and come up to us and tell us about some random spots that might have waves!! very cool..

Mendocino bay is a rivermouth into a bay with big headlands surrounding it.. with little fjords and mini-bays attached.. A big swath of kelp on the outside keeps conditions glassy and the rivermouth-nature of the surf-break ensures that sandbars will be plentiful and shifting.. the waves were small but fun.. little glassy peelers breaking in 2 or 3 feet of water.. gentle, soft afternoon air and sunlight.. girls in the water surfing on longboards with their boyfriends.. mellow scene.. bonfires on the beach.. giant bleached-white redwood logs that had drifted down the river from the thick forested mountains behind... good fun..

then alder creek is a wild/open beach/rivermouth break just north of Manchester Beach, which is just north of the point arena lighthouse. surfed all by my lonesome (mom on beach) in head-high, peeling/closing-out beach break conditions.. had to paddle through 3 or 4 rows of whitewater to get to the outside and my moms was worried that i'd be "swept out to sea!".. some fun, glassy little sections and drops but nothing to write home about.. beautiful beach though.. tons of egrets and vultures and beach flotsom and jetsom.. grand vistas in all directions.. wind offshore at the beginning of session then turned to a mild onshore during session..

we checked point arena but it was disapointingly flat..

i'll post pics tomorrow or tonight..

pic of Mundaka from Sunday

sick!!

arvo update.. check out this video of some ridiculous east-coast spitting pits!

SW wind.. small, junky conditions.. pretty bleak out there this morning.. I didn't surf.. as my mom is in town and i had breaky with her.. However.. my friend Dan sent me another personal surf forecast that looks very exciting! check it..

"Hey, things are looking up. A decent storm in the west pacific is
going on as we speak. Expect a 6' at 17 second swell to arrive on sunday.
Maybe a little bigger. Another pulse forms shortly after, so there should be
head high or better surf from sunday through wed.
Also forecast is a bomb on the 16th of september. It is still
fiction, but if it happens, it will be our first BIG swell of the year with 25
second periods, arriving around the 20 sept."

Soooo.. that looks promising..

anyhoo.. there might not be a report tomorrow as i'm headed up to Mendocino for some camping and some surfing.. i'll be back on sunday night..

good luck y'all! hope you get waves..

i've also heard reports of really good waves on the east coast of late.. Dr. Deni filled me in about some epic Wrightsville Beach action.. What's the Jersey scene Kus and Marc??

lates heads

.... holy shit.. check out this pic from mundaka!

e

I didn't check it this morning.. i ended up surfing for a few hours yesterday afternoon.. Basically the same enjoyable conditions... Shoulder-high, uber-glassy waves pitching and peeling in about 2 or 3 feet of water. Radiant orange/red sunset.. Huge crowds at Sloat and 2nd-lot sloat.. Barrels happening! The waves were really grinding yesterday afternoon as the tide approached -1 feet. Most of my rides consisted of quick, air-drops into a little racy wall into a close-out barrel or just a wipe-out.. I caught a few lefts where i skidded down the face, pig-dogging, then kind-of willed my way down the line doing the backside pump to stay ahead of the breaking wave.. then got myself up on top of the lip for a little floater/rebound as the wave closed out.. really fun!!! There were barrels happening makeable but i just couldn't get into and then out of any.. I saw a few successful barrel rides..

I'm not sure what's happening out there now 4.3ft/10sec windswell at the SF buoy.. wind blowing 7mph out of the SW... huge 7ft high tide today at 3pm..

probably waves out there..

the mundaka event starts today..

we checked sloat around 6:45 and we couldn't see squat. Couldn't even get a read on the sea-surface... We opted for pancakes instead.. Now, looking at the cams, it looks really really fun.. small glassy peelers cruising in.. Last night was really fun down at Ft. Funstoned. shoulder-high barrelling waves breaking in a few feet of water.. Sea-surface ridiculously glassy, warm water, warm air, spiritual sunset, yellowed sliver of a moon.. it was grand i tells ya! I had a few moments of consciousness in the green room while pulling into some closeout barrels.. I also found some speedy, racy sections that demanded some furious pumping to stay ahead of the pitching lip. So much fun!!! Looking at the cam now i'm bummed not to have surfed this morning.. maybe this afternoon again.. hmm...

also.. more bad news from the Escalera Nautica project in Baja.. which is basically this huge, half-baked idea of the Mexican government to construct 25 marinas along the baja coast to lure wealthy, boating tourists.. MANY FANTASTIC pointbreaks are SERIOUSLY threatened.. Check out the save the waves link on the right-side of this page.. also check this surfermag.com article... This shit is really sad..

super warm with absolutely zero wind at OB this morning.. I surfed Sloat for an hour on a peak all to myself.. Conditions looked incredibly small from the parking lot... almost not ridable... but the sea-surface was sooo unbelievably plate-glass and these little wind-swell waves kept cruising in and peeling along in what looked like shallow water.. i decided to suit up and see what happened.. I was pleasantly surprised to realize that the bigger peaks were actually about shoulder-high and the waves were breaking steep enough to be pretty fun. I was able to generate enough speed on a few to get up to the lip for a little smack.. then back down the face, etc.. there were also these pods of sea-lions that were leaping and cavorting. They would also sometimes all raise their heads out of the water at the same time and stare me down. Also many pelicans cruising effortlessly along the air-bubble above unbroken waves.. then diving with huge splashes into the water. it was very UN-OB-like in the sense that the surfing was super-mellow, warm, glassy with little fun waves breaking in shallow water.. I'd imagine that we won't see too many more days like this!!

i paddled out in the near-darkness this morning around 6:40 at Sloat.. Conditions looked very small from the lot but i noticed a few attractive sections and even a little barrel or two.. I ended up surfing by myself for about 30 minutes until Jerm paddled out.. Some of the waves ended up being really fun.. i got covered up for a second on this wedgy right and then pumped a few times then laid down a fulfilling carve back into the whitewater.. definitely some fun waves out there.. however! conditions definitely deteriorated as the session wore on and the tide came up.. i think that i caught the last dregs of the lower tide (making the waves stand up a bit more and throw a little.. when i got out of the water things were looking miniature... though the wind was still nil and the sea-surface glassy.. maybe good for longboarding?? maybe with the 1.2ft low tide around 4pm today there will be some fun waves somewhere?

also, check out this pic of Hossegor, France from today! funk yeah!

not much wind this morning out at OB.. I surfed Sloat from 6:45 till 8:22 (late for work!).. It was windswelly conditions.. waves coming and coming.. necessitated about 3000 duck-dives to get outside.. but nothing too powerful.. A few of the waves jacked up a bit and provided steep, workable faces for a few moments before either closing out or peetering out.. waves probably around shoulder high.. somewhere between glassy and warbled.. the sun was out too! but the water was a bit chilly i thought.

fun conditions out there.. especially compared to the semi-macking conditions we've seen recently..

i have a company picnic at 1pm in Golden Gate Park so i'm looking to get my arvo session on after that..

siiiickk!

e

Lerm and i surfed Second Lot sloat this morning.. the wind was raging out of the NE.. blowing side/offshore.. the waves looked disorganized and uninviting from the parking but we saw some attractive sections and feathering offshore lips so decided to give it a go.. when we got down to the beach we realized shit was bigger than we thought and that there were about 5 or 6 rows of white-water to contend with, with huge slabs of barrelling craziness on the outside.. 20 or 30 duckdives and a throbbing ice-cream headache later we were on the outside.. the wind was whipping cascades of spray off the top of the waves and the situation was generally very intense, as waves would randomly rise up and barrel on the outside or draw you into the inside and then not break at all.. There were all kinds of waves coming through, but predominantly the waves would cruise in as these lumpy/thick masses and then fucking wall up precipitously and then throw out the thicky lips.. sometimes peeling.. more-often closing out. I managed to score some fun rides, did a nice drawn-out front-side carve on my last wave..

shit was intense..

the new surfer's journal is here and i'm pissed because they did this huge article on a wave in Sumba, Indonesia.. basically exposing it with huge glossy pics and an overdramatic/sensual story that will surely help to send droves of surfers there! fucking sucks!! the article also sensationalizes this one guy named Claude Graves, who set up and runs a Tavarua (exlusive wave rights) type of place at this one wave. The article makes him out to be this soul-ful saint when in reality he's a BIATCH who doesn't let surfers not staying at his complex surf the wave.. it cost something ridiculous like $200 a night to stay at his place and $2 a night to stay at the place i stayed, a 45 minute walk up the hillside. We would walk down to the wave and Claude would be standing at the beach, waiting to tell us that we couldn't surf there because he had guests coming.. and that if we didn't like it he would "make things hard for us!"... FUCKER!!! i'm so pissed at Surfer's Journal!! i used to respect them.. but now i see that they represent the same hypocritical, mass-media enterprise as the rest of the surf mags.. they even included a frickin map in the article!!! i mean!! COME ON!!! i'm really bitter about this as that wave was fantastic and the area very remote and tribal.. without much western influence.. anyhoo..

no surf again this morning.. Lerm and i took a long look at Sloat and almost hit it but were turned off by the messy, junky sea surface and the frequency of hard-core, phwumping close-outs and shit.. there were, however, many tantalizing sections amid the chaos.. chunky head-high mixed swell with no wind.. I'm not sure why the surface is junked up.. maybe it was windy last night or windy in the outer water? Anyhoo.. we cruised down to Lindy and things were even more junked up down there.. just large, warbled, hacked nastiness at both Lindy and Rockaway.. weird.. maybe the Jetty is good as there is definitely swell in the water..

Last night i had a fun session at Lindy as the sun set.. Saw Trippy out in the lineup and witnessed him bash the lip pretty good on an inside left. Some fun waves were on offer, even though it looked shitty from the lot.. Some meaty peaks that started breaking mellow on the outside then would suck-up and unload on the inside, dishing up some back-breaking closeout barrels and such.. Now that i look back on it I actually caught some really exciting, long rights where i was forced to carve and negotiate the sucking inside reform.. good stuff..

anyway.. i'm sure that North Santa Cruz county and maybe some san mateo spots are firing right now.. the wind was actually blowing offshore in pacifica .. but it wasn't helping the conditions..??

also check out www.aspworldtour.com for results from the competition at Hossegor going on right now.. Slates is currently battling it out in the first round..

e