Surf More

I skipped surfing this last week and it's causing me to dream of surfing when I should be working. At times  like this I try to think of how I can surf more, and I've decided to jot down a list.

• Always have the right equipment for the conditions.
• Work less (housework included.)
• Go for it! Quit worrying and go surfing.
• Stay at the beach longer. Whether this means a double dip or waiting for conditions to be surfable. Or, staying overnight for multiple days of surfing.
• Purchase a second wetsuit to avoid the dreaded cold wetsuit afternoon scramble. Mostly the problem is marginal waves don't look good enough for a wet wetsuit, so I don't surf again.
• Get in better shape for longer surf sessions.
• Plan surf vacations.

There are likely more that can go on this list, but that's off the top of my head while I should be working at work. Some of these are contrary to my financial situation, some of them should be followed based on my financial situation.
I updated my "following these blogs" list with some blogs that I check often. They're always good for some mind surfing.
With the house comes outdoor space for activities. The flexspoon was uncovered from the back of the closet and I just so happen to have my dad's disk sander on hand as part of the tool dump he made to help me do repairs on the new house. Time to sand sand sand that spoon to get more flex in it. I also found some high density closed cell foam with adhesive backing. This will be the deck pad once I'm satisfied with what I've done on the deck. The flex spoon should fit into my recent move toward "closer to the wave" surfing.
I would like to make myself some  palowina boards. I'd like a wide paipo, narrow paipo, square-ish stand up alaia and longer typical shape alaia. At around $150 per blank, that's a whole lot  of money for experiments. Money I don't have on hand to spend just now. So I'll wait on that.
Last time I surfed I bodysurfed 6-8' SFOB around Moraga. It was a bit crossed up making hollow peaks. I wanted to use the mat but I know at that size it's difficult to pull the mat through whitewater. So, I opted for the body, wondering if I would survive. I was able to catch some waves but was having problems not making it down the face of the wave, and chasing peaks back and forth. I'd get near a peak and get tossed, or watch waves break just out of reach when on a board I could have covered the distance. The few I did make the drop were fast and intense. Bodysurfing bigger waves relies on instinct because you can't see much of what's going on with water spraying everywhere and things happening so fast. My bodysurfing instinct is out of date. But I did have enough fun that I'll be into trying it again.

Bought a house

We bought a house. Being that we don't make awesome money, and we live in the SF Bay area, we got a "fixer." One thing about home improvent is its expensive, so we are doing as much as we can ourselves, saving the money for the jobs that require special skills. Another thing is that as you go along fixing things, you are bound to find more problems just under the surface. What does this have to do with surfing? Well, I havn't been thinking very much about surfing because I'm neck deep in home repair.
I did get a surf 1/16/13. It was a mid-week afternoon that was sunny, warm, and small at OB. I found a sandbar all to myself and had the best surf mat session I've ever had. I was playing with keeping the mat flat on the face instead of trying to "hold an edge," the logic being that the mat doesnt have and edge to hold. Keeping more mat in contact with the face increases the friction, similar to putting an edge on the water. I don't know how well it was working because I didnt get enough waves to try it both ways to compare, but at least I can say it worked. Afterward I came down with the flu, a result of exposure to the bug, home repair in the morning, and surfing the afternoon.
I also got out last week on Thursday. I went down to look at the west side and it was not very big and had some people out. I decided to go 3 Myles up the coast for some size and fewer people. I got that, but more that I could handle. It was big enough that the paddle out was like OB with pleanty of duckdives. I fought my way out pretty far, almost to where the only other surfer was. I tried for one wave, mised it, and turned around to see the other guy who was farther outside get mowed by a 8-10' wave. I went under it and there was another. Too big to hold onto it to duckdive I started swimming deep under each wave. I was still getting washed in and noticed the other guy gave up and turned to go in. I kept ducking waves until I saw I was way inside, and past the safe place to go in. I changed tactics to try to make it in at the next cove, which I did easily, with the help of rows of whitewater.
I left my suit on and went back into town where John is. The waves were just overhead, and there were 20 or so people, 7-10 at the peak. I finagled a few to myself and out a speedy spot a bit forward on the 6'8" moraga. I surfed until I got too tired to make the drop and drove home in the dark.
Today I noticed what a pleasant day it was with warm weather and no wind. I wondered for the first time in a week what the surf was like, but didn't wonder strong enough to even check the report. We move into the house in just over a week and, as of now, we have zero major appliances, one bedroom is unfinished, and the kitchen floor has been striped back to 50-year old linoleum. This is why I haven't had time to think about surfing!

First Ding

After years of riding a variety of Hess boards, this weekend I got my first ding. Out at the beach this Sunday there was a light offshore and a building swell. I was around kirk/law and waves were overhead with some pitching, but mostly just solid peaks dancing around. I was out on the 6'8" and was glad for the extra float to fight the mass of water that was moving around. Not impossible, but a steady northward current. Mid-session I took off on one late and tried to cheat it by angling down the face instead of dropping strait to the bottom. I got hung up and when I stood up I touched the board for a moment before it dropped away and then reconnected with my body. When I lost contact with the board it pulled up the face and the inside rail met my back foot and then my back knee. Hard.
Underwater I felt the pain and thought it hurt, but I wasn't crippled. I spent no time nursing my knee and paddled back out. As soon as I was through the inside bar and into the middle area of calm water I stopped to flex my knee and feel bad for myself. The pain was bad but my knee worked and the waves were good so I got back to the lineup and continued to surf. Eventually my knee was fine and that was the end of it.
Walking back up the dunes I stopped to look at the waves and a guy asked to look at my Hess. He was talkative so I didn't have a chance to praise the board and include my usual mention of how I've never dinged one after 5+ years. I'm glad to because when he was done I noticed something. The rail I had hit with my foot and knee had split. It was about 4" long and split in two parallel lines. The glass had lifted but it looked like the wood below had rebounded back to it's original shape. I hope so because that will make the repair easier.
Not that I'll be doing the repair. I don't have epoxy resin, a work-space, or time to mess around with a repair on what is supposed to be my go-to board for this winter. I'm dropping it off with SF's #1 ding repair couple, the Martins, and hope to have it back before I need it again.
I tried to drop the board off the day I dinged it but they weren't in the shop. As I was walking to the shop gimping from my bruised foot and knee, I wondered how often they get someone gimping in with a ding on a board and a matching ding on the body.

The Zen of not surfing

Since the change of employment my overall level of stress has gone down, and with it my overall cash flow. I have all the surfboards I need and a wetsuit that's less than a year old, so I'm set with equipment. I've been reduced to a one car family for the foreseeable future. I'm sure we could get a second car if I really wanted to, but I don't really. The lack of a personal car has impacted my ability to get to the beach, but I don't seem to mind. This is part of a new relationship I seem to have with surfing.
I still enjoy surfing, but I don't find myself sitting at work wishing I was out there, even when it's good. I don't keep as good a track of the conditions as I used to. Even when I'm at the beach and it's good, I feel more relaxed about the whole situation. Out in the water I try to get waves and paddle to stay in position, but if I don't, that's okay to. Overall I feel very "okay" with however things work out.
I suspect this is due to a much less stressful work situation, but I don't know for sure. Perhaps my body is reaching the age that it doesn't strive to dunk itself in cold water and beat it's head against walls of whitewater. I've even been forgetting to check the craigs-list for surfboards of interest.
So what's next for me and surfing? I hope that I don't slowly withdraw from the beach and stop surfing because I see surfing as my main form of exercise, and exercise needs to be a part of everyone's life for their entire life. I do dream of easier surfing, or at least surfing where it's warmer, but I make no plans to achive that dream. I make less money and I'm adjusting to the less money lifestyle. That, combined with ever increasing cost of gas, results in fewer trips to the beach. And the weird thing is, I'm okay with that.

SurfMat Session

Did a mid-Sunday-morning session at the 4th mile. Although there were people on the beach, the water was empty. This was likely due to the small waves and low tide showing rocks and much kelp/eel grass. These things are no problem for the surf mat though, and I got right out there. I still can't find much speed on the mat and I'm limited to what the wave wants to do, but it's still playing in the ocean. I surfed for a good hour before another joined and I got bored with the wait between sets. A few good waves and pleasant weather, but nothing to brag about. I came in and changed out of my wetsuit on the beach. Before I was finished there were 8 people in the water. I left at just the right time, I just wish I started earlier.

Good Day

Trip out to Marginal and the conditions were crap. Thought the south wind would be good for cleaning up the short period wind swell, but the wind was still calm and the ocean bumpy. I went out anyway to get a feel for the 6'8" Hess Lola. It felt good with more paddle than the 6' Pacheco, but none of the oversized feeling of the 7'5" Lola. A bit hard to duck-dive but I adjusted to it.
I didn't stay out long, figuring the next part of the day would be better. I cleaned up and headed to the skate park. FTW? Locked gate and the sign says it opens at 9am. Okay, I drove up and watch some waves ridden at Rocks. Nothing great, but I might have had more fun there than Marginal. Killed some time and returned to the skate park.
The park was fun with a shallow, low transition 3/4 bowl that I was able to pump and gain height, which is something I havn't done in a more vertical bowl, no matter how small. About 5 more people showed up right after 9 so I had to clear out of the flat bowl as they were using it to launch. I took turns, spent some time in the Med bowl, and even tried low launches like the other guys. The best part of my day was the few succesful ollies off the lip of some low kickers. There were also a few +1' flat-to-flat drops that I toyed around with to get the feeling. The park also has a larger bowl with 4 levels, the deepest of which goes over-vert. Having no roll in spot, and with the shallowest part in the middle of the park where you need to walk some spines to access, I didn't even try that part of the park. I stayed two hours and then left, swung by Rocks again deciding it wasn't worth the cold wetsuit, then headed home.
Overall I would say this is a good combonation of things to do on a day off. It would help justify the drive and, on a warmer day, I would more likely double session the surf.
I also spotted some broken skate decks at the park. I thought about picking them up for a project but hessitated and didn't. The idea is to cut them down to small hand-planes for surfing. It would be a fun project and might make a decent hand-plane. So hipster right now.

New Board, no really.

The downloading of the Craigslist app that allowed instant, multiple times a day targeted searching has paid off. I picked up a 6'8" Hess Lola for 8 big ones. It's a bit wider than I would prefer at 21", but the wide point is forward of center. I'm hoping it will have tons of float at 3" thick with a domed deck. The board is clean without a single visible ding on it. I'm guessing it didn't get ridden much, but I'm at least the third person to own it since it says "for John" and I bought it from Dave. Year built '09. The forward wide point tapers down to a rather narrow tail that I haven't yet measured. This fills in a key spot in my quiver. It's the "OB is overhead with current, but not quite 10' on the sets." If I get the paddle advantage I want out of this board it will allow me to reach the peak better and get more waves. I imagine it will go with me every day there is "swell" at the beach with the second board being either the Pacheco if it's "not big" and the 7'5" if it is "big."
I should do a few "Hess Quiver" photos and post them here.

Went on a search for surf on Friday and ended up at mediocre quatro-mile, with a bit more crowd than expected for a weekday. I didn't do to well, letting better waves go to those who were more aggressive and instead taking mostly trash waves, but JZ did just fine keeping it smooth on the hull. This allowed him more range and earlier take-off. Plus he's more aggressive and is gonna get more waves whatever the situation is.

Skate-wise I'm pushing myself and seeing minor results. My legs are stronger so I can go for an hour before feeling the knee give out. I've done a few grinds on the low edge at Alameda. It's surprising how little grinding feels like what I thought. It's just a bit of a slow down from rolling, so really nothing much to it. Just don't take too vertical a line for your speed and overshoot it, and don't get the front truck up on the ramp deck if you didn't intend, and break off the grind line while you still have some speed, and commit to the re-entry. Okay, I guess there is more to it than "nothing."

I brought the GoPro to the park but didn't get there early enough to be the only one there. I was first, but before I got comfortable enough to break out the cam more people showed up. I'm going to have to go pretty early to get some shots. I also took a closer look at the wall where I thought I was getting fully vertical. Turns out it's not vertical even at the lip, so I'm not vertical, even if it feels that way. Took some advice to loosen my trucks and did so, a 1/4 turn, which is hardly noticeable. I should keep going until I can feel it.