Last Saturday I got up at 3:15AM to arrive at Ona before first light. Waxed up the new board and followed Darrel down the beach. He and I surfed for an hour or two with no other takers. I got one sorta good wave and a lot of typical Ona crapa. I headed into Davenport and had a wonderfull breakfast and enough coffee to motivate me for a second session. At 10AM the north coast was still clean and I jumped on the first surfable spot I found, which was the rights at the south end of Davenport Landing. What I saw from the beach was peaky/bowls with some long walls to run and nobody out. What I saw from the water was shifty sucking ledges with steps coming up the face on the take-off. A few near freefall drops with no shoulders to run, but mostly paddling back and forth, in and out and never landing a winner.
I think I've cured myself of the dawn at Ona tendancy. I think nobody else came because there were waves at all the other spots. I expected wind but instead it was clean. I think the call would have been Waddell Reefs...
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Pacheco
I almost drove out to the beach this morning for a surf, even though the conditions are bad up here. On the surf report webpage there was a link to a report on the carbon footprint of surfing. As I know, driving to the beach is the largest CO2 emitting action surfers take. I decided to save my CO2 for a day with better chances of being fun. I was considering biking to work to offset my "surfing carbon", but got lazy and ran out of time and went to my car. It wouldn't start, so I biked to work anyway! Being a scientist with an atmospheric background I feel guilt for being wasteful in any way because I know how these things contribute to the problems our society has. It gets to the point that I feel guilty about everything, then I snap and feel no guilt and the process starts over again.
I picked up the new Hess Pacheco a few weekends ago. The surf that day was going from bad to worse and by the time I picked up the board there was no way I was surfing. The next weekend I had plans with the wife and, even though we went to Santa Cruz, I did not surf. It's getting to the point that I need to just get wet, and with no signs of improvement in the forecast, that may be just what I do. Now, thinking about the CO2 footprint and all that, and since I only biked to work twice this week (not enough to offset the trip to the beach) I'm considering trying for the bus to beach again.
The photo is the new Pacheco on the left and the Quintara on the right. I think the aged and sun-darkened Quintara looks nicer than the fresh Pacheco. This photo also shows the difference in the templates very well. In person, at a more perpendicular angle the Pacheco looks like the wide point is forward of center and the Quintara looks like the wide point is back from center.
I pulled out my fin collection and found some interesting things. First, the original Haut fins are different than what I had on the Haut2. The front fins were similar, but the rear fins of the Haut were smaller, and set and the back of the box as compared to the Haut2.
When I bought the Quintara, the guy gave me two sets of fins. The ones that came with the board are more similar to the Haut fins, but the other set that I used are more similar to the Haut2 fins. I've decided that I'm going with the smaller rear set on both Hess boards and I'll see how they feel. (I probably can't tell the difference!)
What I need (and have needed for a long time) is a week of surfing where I can surf more than 2 hours in a day and really get the feeling of surfing again. It's been too long with marginal waves and short rides. Working in Berkeley inhibits surfing good waves.
Monday, June 6, 2011
New Spot
Beach access around Moss Landing is difficult. The reason for this is because much of the area is state park or nature reserve. The result is that it's hard to check the whole stretch of beach break, but also if you find something away from a main parking lot you'll probably surf alone. This is in contrast to Ocean Beach where there is continuous access to the full 4 mile stretch.
Yesterday my work took me to Watsonville and, after a check with the guy at Manresa to verify that was not worth surfing, I went to Moss. Moss had one peak that was actually crowded, which was a surprise to see that many people surfing there. There were several bars along the beach but only that one had surfable waves with all the rest creating shifty close-outs. The sun was peaking from behind the clouds and the wind was offshore, so I really wanted to get some waves. I decided to drive further south because the direction of the wind would make it more offshore than side shore in that direction.
I ended up at Monterey Dunes where I found a crowded parking lot but only a few fisherman on the beach. There was a peak working right at the end of the trail and I got a few waves there before the tide filled in and made that particular bar soft. When I came in the bar down the beach was no longer closing out and looked good, but I had other things to do that day and my shoulders were tired anyway.
Overall it was a good day at a new spot I'd never even checked before. The waves were fun, but smaller than Moss. I also wish I knew what Pajaro Rivermouth looked like. And I'm also curious how hard it would be to get to the Salinas Rivermouth. Perhaps that's where some of the owners of the cars in the lot were. I swear some of those trucks belonged to surfers and not just fisherman, but I never saw anyone that looked like a surfer walk by.
Yesterday my work took me to Watsonville and, after a check with the guy at Manresa to verify that was not worth surfing, I went to Moss. Moss had one peak that was actually crowded, which was a surprise to see that many people surfing there. There were several bars along the beach but only that one had surfable waves with all the rest creating shifty close-outs. The sun was peaking from behind the clouds and the wind was offshore, so I really wanted to get some waves. I decided to drive further south because the direction of the wind would make it more offshore than side shore in that direction.
I ended up at Monterey Dunes where I found a crowded parking lot but only a few fisherman on the beach. There was a peak working right at the end of the trail and I got a few waves there before the tide filled in and made that particular bar soft. When I came in the bar down the beach was no longer closing out and looked good, but I had other things to do that day and my shoulders were tired anyway.
Overall it was a good day at a new spot I'd never even checked before. The waves were fun, but smaller than Moss. I also wish I knew what Pajaro Rivermouth looked like. And I'm also curious how hard it would be to get to the Salinas Rivermouth. Perhaps that's where some of the owners of the cars in the lot were. I swear some of those trucks belonged to surfers and not just fisherman, but I never saw anyone that looked like a surfer walk by.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Hesitation
I've got a $1400 board on the way, and I'm getting into climbing, and it's been a terrible spring for surfing. All these things have combined in my head and I was ready to sell off a few surfboards. I say was, because as I was scraping wax and composing my craigslist addvert in my head, the story I was telling made me think I want to hold onto these boards a bit longer.
I was considering selling the Buttons and the Wheelright. These are two single fin boards in the shape of the 70's transition shapes. I've learned from riding these boards that they work well in hollow waves when all I want to do is sit deep. The narrow tails stall back into the pocket without as much up the face twisting as wider tailed boards. The wide point forward helps them drop into waves, but the rocker makes it hard to make late drops because they are longer but flat and don't handle the transition at the bottom of the wave. Something about the tail or rails makes it hard to take the late drop more sideways, like I can do on my Haut2.
But, when things come together the Buttons feels so good in hollow waves. It's just not floaty enough to be a bigger wave board at OB. I've taken it out on bigger days and the current was too much for me to move around. The Wheelright would probably have enough paddle, but it's a bit to big to duckdive solidly. I feel like I'd like to have a board that is in the middle, but until then, maybe I should keep them both...
No hesitation on giving up the kneeboard. I should probably gift it to someone on the kneeboarding website. I had some great waves on that board, but the last time I surfed it the feeling was so foreign that I didn't want to be riding it.
So I need to get my head strait and then get to posting on craigslist. I should also to a bit of lurking first to see what I should charge for these boards. My sense is that used boards aren't selling for as much because the economy is still slow.
I was considering selling the Buttons and the Wheelright. These are two single fin boards in the shape of the 70's transition shapes. I've learned from riding these boards that they work well in hollow waves when all I want to do is sit deep. The narrow tails stall back into the pocket without as much up the face twisting as wider tailed boards. The wide point forward helps them drop into waves, but the rocker makes it hard to make late drops because they are longer but flat and don't handle the transition at the bottom of the wave. Something about the tail or rails makes it hard to take the late drop more sideways, like I can do on my Haut2.
But, when things come together the Buttons feels so good in hollow waves. It's just not floaty enough to be a bigger wave board at OB. I've taken it out on bigger days and the current was too much for me to move around. The Wheelright would probably have enough paddle, but it's a bit to big to duckdive solidly. I feel like I'd like to have a board that is in the middle, but until then, maybe I should keep them both...
No hesitation on giving up the kneeboard. I should probably gift it to someone on the kneeboarding website. I had some great waves on that board, but the last time I surfed it the feeling was so foreign that I didn't want to be riding it.
So I need to get my head strait and then get to posting on craigslist. I should also to a bit of lurking first to see what I should charge for these boards. My sense is that used boards aren't selling for as much because the economy is still slow.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
A new kind of quiver
When climbing the rock faces like those at Yosemite, a lead climber puts devices into cracks in the rock, and then connects the rope to the devices. These devices are intended to catch a falling climber. There are different shapes and styles of these devices, and just as many companies that make these different devices. Every climber that wants to do this kind of climbing needs to buy many of these devices and the climber's collection is called their "rack."
Why am I talking about this? Well, on my 35th birthday my wife organized a trip to the local climbing gym. I was hooked right away because it offered consistent hours, convenient location, and physical challenges, among other things. Last weekend I took a two day class to learn the skills to climb outside. Now it's time to build my own rack. For the price of a new surfboard I can have a decent starter rack that would get me outside. That's still around $500, which isn't money I can throw around, so I'm considering selling off some of my quiver to build my rack. My goal is a multi-pitch single day climb in Yosemite, and it may happen this summer or next. After that I'll be able to re-asses my interest in the sport. My concern is that the rock doesn't change so after doing a particular climb a few times it may become boring. In that case to find more excitement you have to go find a different rock somewhere. The advantage to surfing is that once you find a surf spot, every day and every wave is a bit different. Ocean Beach is the extreme example of this.
At the moment I'm more interested in buying the climbing gear than selling some surf gear, but I think both should happen. I'm ready to clear out the kneeboard, the spare 70's backyard board, and the Buttons board. That would leave me the flexspoon project, the GeeBee, the Haut2, the QQ Hess and the Pacheco Hess which is on the way. I'd move the Haut2 to Santa Cruz to have in case I'm ever there without a board. I'd be willing to part with the QQ if I could get a reasonable offer, and the 4 board massive reduction in quiver size would help justify the purchase of a Hess SFOB semi-gun for those 8-12' heavy current days. I'm not sure if I would be able to handle those days even with the right board, but I'd like to be able to. Hopefully climbing will keep me in a bit better shape for surfing (as compared to doing nothing.)
Why am I talking about this? Well, on my 35th birthday my wife organized a trip to the local climbing gym. I was hooked right away because it offered consistent hours, convenient location, and physical challenges, among other things. Last weekend I took a two day class to learn the skills to climb outside. Now it's time to build my own rack. For the price of a new surfboard I can have a decent starter rack that would get me outside. That's still around $500, which isn't money I can throw around, so I'm considering selling off some of my quiver to build my rack. My goal is a multi-pitch single day climb in Yosemite, and it may happen this summer or next. After that I'll be able to re-asses my interest in the sport. My concern is that the rock doesn't change so after doing a particular climb a few times it may become boring. In that case to find more excitement you have to go find a different rock somewhere. The advantage to surfing is that once you find a surf spot, every day and every wave is a bit different. Ocean Beach is the extreme example of this.
At the moment I'm more interested in buying the climbing gear than selling some surf gear, but I think both should happen. I'm ready to clear out the kneeboard, the spare 70's backyard board, and the Buttons board. That would leave me the flexspoon project, the GeeBee, the Haut2, the QQ Hess and the Pacheco Hess which is on the way. I'd move the Haut2 to Santa Cruz to have in case I'm ever there without a board. I'd be willing to part with the QQ if I could get a reasonable offer, and the 4 board massive reduction in quiver size would help justify the purchase of a Hess SFOB semi-gun for those 8-12' heavy current days. I'm not sure if I would be able to handle those days even with the right board, but I'd like to be able to. Hopefully climbing will keep me in a bit better shape for surfing (as compared to doing nothing.)
Saturday, March 12, 2011
No man is happy till he dies
"No man's happy 'till he dies," - Tom Waits Misery's the River of the World
Which a paraphrase of, and possibly an alteration to the meaning of line in a play by Aeschylus, and ancient Greek playwright, which gives the concept age.
I sit at work or at home and wish I was at the beach surfing. It is completely in my power to go, yet I hold back for various reasons and dream of the situation being different. I imagine what I would do if I won the lottery. I try to build the confidence to take a month off work. But I doubt myself that is really what I want.
I've been reading "All for a Few Perfect Waves" by David Rensin. It's a biography of Miki Dora, and I've gotten through the 60's to the point in Miki's life that he is about to leave California. While in California Miki would cheat, lie, and steal; do anything to avoid real work and stay free to surf. He would also visit museums, poetry readings, and other more intellectual pursuits. I read this book and it kindles my feeling that I'm spending too much time working and not enough time seeking adventure and "living life." Miki once graphically charted the rise and fall of surfing. The chart contains a small dip during the rising phase which Miki simply called the "Willie House" tragedy. The author of the biography got the story from Willie House as follows (paraphrased.)
Willie House: There were actually three tragedies which combined. The first was having to move away from the beach to be the sole provider for my daughter. The second tragedy was having to quit my sandal shop and take more steady work as a gardener. The third was the result of the first two and everything else in life being that I don't surf much any more.
The "tragedy" is repeated constantly with other surfers. I knew about it and wanted to avoid it, yet I'm succumbing to it now. My plans were not set in stone and so they changed in ways I didn't want It seems like everyone else wants me to do things that pull me away from surfing, and I'm not strong enough to overcome them all.
Yet I know it's my choice. I'm slave to no one, there are no indentured servants. I'm not in jail, or on parole. So it is me who is holding myself back. Why?
Is it fear? Yes, I fear loosing my job if I take too long a vacation. If I loose my job I fear not finding another one that's as good. It's also fear of loosing my wife because I'm neglectful. It's fear of spending money now that I need later. It's fear of being uncomfortable (i.e. getting sick, cold, lost, robbed.)
Is it not what I really want? This I don't know the answer to. I think the reason has something to do with not having done it yet. I've taken surf trips and vacations and I always enjoy the experience, but would I still if I was alone and/or the time was longer than a week? How can I know until I try? What if I risk my life as it is and find out that what I had I want more than what I chased. What if I take two weeks and come home only to wonder if I'd be happier if I took a month? And that brings me back to the title of this entry. Will I always be chasing happiness?
But to go beyond that possibility, is the understanding that I will always be chasing happiness any reason to stop trying? When my wife and I were discussing moving back to the beach town she reminded me that even when we lived there I was unhappy at times. I got used to getting to surf and then complained about the surf not being good enough. My response was that if I was unhappy one less day a week, isn't that worth the effort to move back? Yet, given the power to make a compromise happen (move to a different beach) I balked. I had reasons, but it was my choice and I made it to stay in the situation I'm in.
The Choice
The intellect of man is forced to choose
perfection of the life, or of the work,
And if it take the second must refuse
A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.
When all that story's finished, what's the news?
In luck or out the toil has left its mark:
That old perplexity an empty purse,
Or the day's vanity, the night's remorse.
William Butler Yeats
One concept that I've drawn from this poem is that to achive perfection in either life or work you give up most of the other. To me, the better path is the middle one, yet I look at the benifits of the extremes and wish I had those too.
No man is happy untill he dies, and maybe not even then.
Which a paraphrase of, and possibly an alteration to the meaning of line in a play by Aeschylus, and ancient Greek playwright, which gives the concept age.
I sit at work or at home and wish I was at the beach surfing. It is completely in my power to go, yet I hold back for various reasons and dream of the situation being different. I imagine what I would do if I won the lottery. I try to build the confidence to take a month off work. But I doubt myself that is really what I want.
I've been reading "All for a Few Perfect Waves" by David Rensin. It's a biography of Miki Dora, and I've gotten through the 60's to the point in Miki's life that he is about to leave California. While in California Miki would cheat, lie, and steal; do anything to avoid real work and stay free to surf. He would also visit museums, poetry readings, and other more intellectual pursuits. I read this book and it kindles my feeling that I'm spending too much time working and not enough time seeking adventure and "living life." Miki once graphically charted the rise and fall of surfing. The chart contains a small dip during the rising phase which Miki simply called the "Willie House" tragedy. The author of the biography got the story from Willie House as follows (paraphrased.)
Willie House: There were actually three tragedies which combined. The first was having to move away from the beach to be the sole provider for my daughter. The second tragedy was having to quit my sandal shop and take more steady work as a gardener. The third was the result of the first two and everything else in life being that I don't surf much any more.
The "tragedy" is repeated constantly with other surfers. I knew about it and wanted to avoid it, yet I'm succumbing to it now. My plans were not set in stone and so they changed in ways I didn't want It seems like everyone else wants me to do things that pull me away from surfing, and I'm not strong enough to overcome them all.
Yet I know it's my choice. I'm slave to no one, there are no indentured servants. I'm not in jail, or on parole. So it is me who is holding myself back. Why?
Is it fear? Yes, I fear loosing my job if I take too long a vacation. If I loose my job I fear not finding another one that's as good. It's also fear of loosing my wife because I'm neglectful. It's fear of spending money now that I need later. It's fear of being uncomfortable (i.e. getting sick, cold, lost, robbed.)
Is it not what I really want? This I don't know the answer to. I think the reason has something to do with not having done it yet. I've taken surf trips and vacations and I always enjoy the experience, but would I still if I was alone and/or the time was longer than a week? How can I know until I try? What if I risk my life as it is and find out that what I had I want more than what I chased. What if I take two weeks and come home only to wonder if I'd be happier if I took a month? And that brings me back to the title of this entry. Will I always be chasing happiness?
But to go beyond that possibility, is the understanding that I will always be chasing happiness any reason to stop trying? When my wife and I were discussing moving back to the beach town she reminded me that even when we lived there I was unhappy at times. I got used to getting to surf and then complained about the surf not being good enough. My response was that if I was unhappy one less day a week, isn't that worth the effort to move back? Yet, given the power to make a compromise happen (move to a different beach) I balked. I had reasons, but it was my choice and I made it to stay in the situation I'm in.
The Choice
The intellect of man is forced to choose
perfection of the life, or of the work,
And if it take the second must refuse
A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.
When all that story's finished, what's the news?
In luck or out the toil has left its mark:
That old perplexity an empty purse,
Or the day's vanity, the night's remorse.
William Butler Yeats
One concept that I've drawn from this poem is that to achive perfection in either life or work you give up most of the other. To me, the better path is the middle one, yet I look at the benifits of the extremes and wish I had those too.
No man is happy untill he dies, and maybe not even then.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Margins
I've had a few good sessions that I've been hesitant to post because of the semi-secret nature of these spots. The fact that I know about them and surfed there means they are not real secrets, but they are definitely below the radar of most surfers, and are guarded by skilled and aggressive local crews. I am just barley skilled and aggressive, but I wanted to talk out how I make it work.
Margins. With the number of surfers these days if the conditions are good on a weekend then where ever it is good is also going to be crowded. The better it is, the harder it is for me to get waves, especially if I go to a point/reef spot with a narrow take-off zone. So I hit the margins. What I mean by margins could be a few things. It could mean that the weather isn't all that great like the winds is side-shore or light onshore, or it's raining, or very cold, but still surfable. It could mean that the tide isn't quite right. Either it's the part of the tide that isn't yet low/high enough or the tide wont get quite low enough for that spot to really do it's thing, etc. The point is that the local crew would look at the conditions and have reason to hesitate to go surf. That's when I surf.
I have two examples of this working for me. Both spots need big swells and low tides. Both times I paddled out before the tide was right and got waves before the crowd.
One because it takes 30min to get from where you park to the wave, so if you wait to see the first good set hit then it's 45min before you catch one. We didn't wait and caught a wave out of that first set, and then a few more before the crowd got to it.
The other because at the higher tide the wave catches backwash and doesn't have much shoulder. It was cold and rainy and there was junky wind on the ocean, I surfed for an hour and a half by myself and caught all kinds of "marginal" waves. It was getting better the whole time and the crowd filled in rather quickly, but I stayed out for another 30min until there was no more room for me to get waves.
Both sessions left me feeling satisfied even though I didn't get the best waves of the day.
One thing about the margins is that some "margins" have disappeared with more and more people surfing. It used to be that surfing at dawn in Santa Cruz was a margin, but now it's one of the most crowded times of the day! I used to surf a break that was rather crappy no shoulder backwashy nothing spot, a margin that I could get with very few others out. Now it is filled whenever a wave breaks out there.
Lastly, I consider margins different than seams. Seams are the better part of a day/tide/swell when for whatever reason there are fewer people in the water. I think about hitting the seam in the way a running back does, finding an opening among the crowd to get what I want. The morning after the Super Bowl, World Series, or whatever when so many people are sleeping off a hangover missing great waves is a seam. The 45 min between the dawn patrol crew and the later morning crew is a seam. The 4th day of a great swell when the waves are still really good but most people have gotten all the waves they want is a seam. The wave that swings wide/short and hits a different part of the reef/point from where everyone is sitting is a seam. Hitting the seam often requires being at the beach waiting, watching, and jumping when the seam opens. Seams can't be planned for, you just have to take advantage of the opportunity. Margins are more predictable but less rewarding in some ways.
Margins. With the number of surfers these days if the conditions are good on a weekend then where ever it is good is also going to be crowded. The better it is, the harder it is for me to get waves, especially if I go to a point/reef spot with a narrow take-off zone. So I hit the margins. What I mean by margins could be a few things. It could mean that the weather isn't all that great like the winds is side-shore or light onshore, or it's raining, or very cold, but still surfable. It could mean that the tide isn't quite right. Either it's the part of the tide that isn't yet low/high enough or the tide wont get quite low enough for that spot to really do it's thing, etc. The point is that the local crew would look at the conditions and have reason to hesitate to go surf. That's when I surf.
I have two examples of this working for me. Both spots need big swells and low tides. Both times I paddled out before the tide was right and got waves before the crowd.
One because it takes 30min to get from where you park to the wave, so if you wait to see the first good set hit then it's 45min before you catch one. We didn't wait and caught a wave out of that first set, and then a few more before the crowd got to it.
The other because at the higher tide the wave catches backwash and doesn't have much shoulder. It was cold and rainy and there was junky wind on the ocean, I surfed for an hour and a half by myself and caught all kinds of "marginal" waves. It was getting better the whole time and the crowd filled in rather quickly, but I stayed out for another 30min until there was no more room for me to get waves.
Both sessions left me feeling satisfied even though I didn't get the best waves of the day.
One thing about the margins is that some "margins" have disappeared with more and more people surfing. It used to be that surfing at dawn in Santa Cruz was a margin, but now it's one of the most crowded times of the day! I used to surf a break that was rather crappy no shoulder backwashy nothing spot, a margin that I could get with very few others out. Now it is filled whenever a wave breaks out there.
Lastly, I consider margins different than seams. Seams are the better part of a day/tide/swell when for whatever reason there are fewer people in the water. I think about hitting the seam in the way a running back does, finding an opening among the crowd to get what I want. The morning after the Super Bowl, World Series, or whatever when so many people are sleeping off a hangover missing great waves is a seam. The 45 min between the dawn patrol crew and the later morning crew is a seam. The 4th day of a great swell when the waves are still really good but most people have gotten all the waves they want is a seam. The wave that swings wide/short and hits a different part of the reef/point from where everyone is sitting is a seam. Hitting the seam often requires being at the beach waiting, watching, and jumping when the seam opens. Seams can't be planned for, you just have to take advantage of the opportunity. Margins are more predictable but less rewarding in some ways.
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