Three reef day

I had the day off and family was out of town. The swell was small but the weather was good so I made the most of it by returning to the same old that I've been frequenting this spring. Also motivating me was a new (to me) CI Fred Rubble I picked up. I really wanted to know if I could still ride a 6'5" thruster shape. I started at Molino and caught a few blah waves. I didn't even see any good waves so I decided to go down past the rock to the other reef. I caught more waves there, but they didn't have much shoulder to them and I couldn't get a feel for the new board. I was able to catch waves just fine, and that felt good. In the few brief moments that I got the board up to speed, if felt like I remember a thruster feeling. Its that feeling of not having to wind up for a turn and lay into it, instead the board reacts as fast as I can. Of course when the wave is slow and flat the board doesn't do anything, and days like today are spent chasing that feeling.

After 45 mins I gave up and headed back. I walked slowly along the beach searching for more waves but didn't see any worthwhile. I kept walking all the way up to Scott's where two guys were out making the most of it. I saw a few waves away from where they were, and looked good enough, so I paddled out. I caught a few of them, but wished I had the extra volume of the Tree Hugger to chase down the waves better. The waves were shifting around and it was hard to get into one at the right spot. My knee wasn't feeling right so I decided to give up before something bad happened. Plus, I think Sunday will be pretty good and I wanted to save myself for that.

Afterwards I took some time to look around at other waves. Someone was out at horse shoe, but they weren't getting any rides. A couple guys were even further north and it made me wonder how they got over there. Did they take a really long walk, or is there another trail down closer to where they were. I didn't see them get any good waves so I didn't investigate further and headed up to Dog Rock. There was a left out front, and the wrapping right could have been surfed with a longboard, or a determined shortboarder. There were two guys a little north of the rock too. I could only see them drop and make one turn before they disappeared behind the headland, but I saw one of them go square off the bottom and top, which was the best turn I saw all day. I want to try these spots, but today wasn't the day. I continued north and Waddell was as crowded as I have seen. The main lot was closed, so cars and trucks lined Hwy 1. I didn't stop to look, figuring the crowds could have it, whatever it was. Onwards north with an eye on the ocean all the time. I didn't see much more along the way, but stopped at the overlook to watch some waves crash chaotically around that flat (not really) rock. A determined person could make it work out there, but it would be more novelty than surfing. I couldn't see anything down at Ross', but that only means it wasn't pushing 8ft.

So, in summary, it was summery. I got to try a small board and it worked for me. I'll continue to try to get it into the right kind of waves, and now I know 36L isn't too small for me, but it's close. I know I can duckdive 49L (the Tree Hugger is non-standard dims) and ideal would be something in the low 40s.

I'd love to get a board that has the 5-fin with the center box so I could continue the fin experiments but also have the option of a snapping turn now and then. Of course, maybe I'll work it out on the TH and manage a few anyway. I still need to try it as single and as quad, and I'm pretty sure it would work better as a thruster if I toyed with the fin position a bit more. Still, instead of the two boards, I'd like to have something in-between them both.