MatMeet North

On August 21st MatMeet North was held in honor of the main MatMeet which happened the following day at Cotton's Point. See 23breaths blog for the glorious details.

MatMeet North had one participant, me, but I shared some interesting waves with one friendly kneeboarder. We were at onA at very low tide with a small south and small NW windswell in the water. The kneeboarder, Darrel "in the Barrel," said the south was causing more close-outs and that the previous 6-weeks had been great at onA. (He enjoyed the small, shapely peaks and I witnessed one tube ride he handled well.) So, onA likes the small NW wind swell better than the south?

Anyway, while I was there the side wave worked a bit, the water was freezing, and I caught some exciting waves on my mat. Coulda maybe been narreled on one or two.

UDeeTs test ride. I used the bench-top belt grinder to remove material from the Large sized UDTs. The idea is to soften up the blade and reduce the resistance while kicking. The fins have proved too powerful for me in the past and caused foot cramps. I didn't feel like I took off very much, and I concentrated on the center spine which I probably reduced by half on both sides of the fin. Anyway, I surfed for an hour or more and never got a foot cramp, even though I was kicking most of the time. I think that is a positive result and I'll leave them like they are and try them out some more.

Well, not exactly as they are. I wore them without fin socks and I rubbed holes in my feel. My right foot on the bottom had a row of open blisters where the fin hits, and my left foot inside ankle was also blistered and open. So, if I want to wear these barefoot (which I do) I need to re/apply the wetsuit material to the fins, and/or redesign the straps.

After a leg cramp that wouldn't go away I switched to the Haut2. I only caught one decent wave and gave it up as the crowd was growing. I took my time and changed out of my wetsuit on the beach. I watched as the side wave was no longer working and the take-off was next to the rock. The tide had filled in to ~3.5ft or maybe a bit more. The waves were much more peaky and the rippers that had showed up were getting good rides, but not quite barrels. Anyway, the point is that low tide south swell is not the only combo for Ona, and maybe not even a good one.

Thinking about returning this weekend, but my feet still haven't heeled.

August

It has been a terrible summer. Long streaches of onshore wind, little to no surf, and I've been working harder than I ever have. (Well, except that few months I worked two jobs.) My last two sessions were two weeks or more apart with a mat surf in crap waves more than a month ago and a fun but minor bodysurf session two weeks ago. Out of town this weekend.
Once I finish all this work I'll be looking to vacation somewhere surf related. Not sure where (or when) but hopefully this fall.
Options:
North up the coast would be interesting, less crowded, colder, camp-able = cheaper, but without any prime surf spots that I can think of.
South down the coast has many, many options that are well advertised. Once I round Point Conception the water is much warmer. Camp-able, but less so, especially without reservations. Crowds, but I could surf the not-longboard spots which I would guess are less crowded. I could also try to meet with other bloggers.
Mexico = warm waters and new territory. I still want to spend some time at Puerto Escondido and make a tube. I think I could do it if I had a week of 6-8ft surf. Puerto could end up giving me a week of 16-18ft surf, or break my boards and end up costing me mucho pesos in repair costs. Pleanty of other options down there, but for someone who speaks little spanish it's intimidating going it alone.
Hmmm....

The Three Bears of Hess

I've ridden the HessQQ (Quinara Quad) three more times now. Once I ended up at overhead 3mile. It was big enough to make duckdiving hard and move enough water around that I got tired just trying to get to the take-off spot. At the same time it was breaking soft and hard to get into. Once in there wasn't enough power to get me going much, at least on the waves I caught. Blah, any other board I own would have been better, probably... Papa Bear, to much water moving.

The next time was a pre-work surf with work friends at Linda Mar. The north end did have some shoulder high waves with a bit of push at the start. Some even had shape on the inside. I got some good waves but would have been better served by the Haut2. But other than that it was sunny, warm, and glassy with few people in the water competing for waves... Mama Bear, to small and soft.

The next day I went to catch some south at Waddel Reefs. The tide was low and the swell was about head high, with a few bigger. It was great! Some steep ones and attempted barrels. One I'll count as a long narrel (not a barrel, nearly a barrel.) A few other guys out there were getting in the pit but for the most part I was holding my own, even though I was paddling all around never staying lined up for very long. Not that I was getting pushed off the reef, just that it felt crowded and I was trying to find waves uncontested. Overall that is the kind of wave I should be riding on the HessQQ... Baby bear, just right.

Trigger Pulled

So, I bought the board. I tried to be thoughtful about it. I put the boards side by side on the grass, I compared dimensions, I tried to think of counter arguments... But in the end my excitement was too much and I bought the board in a fog of giddiness. I got it in the water that afternoon and right away felt that it was much smaller than I imagined it would be. I'm guessing that Hess doesn't dome the deck like the Haut2 is. And perhaps the wider template has more effect than I thought it would, and calculated.

I was able to catch waves and ride them, and it duckdives great because I sink it completely when I'm paddling. It made me feel very out of shape.

I had a board that was small, the mint Bonzer, and I had to let it go. The reason was that it didn't have enough float for me to catch waves early and it didn't drop in late very well, or at all. This Hess board drops in late just fine, so maybe I will be able to make it work. It just wont be my everyday board, more for good waves.

Big Island Little Waves

Went looking for Shark Pit and found it HUGE. It was the day the Mavs contest was held, and they said it was some of the biggest surf ever paddled into for a contest. There was a car parked overlooking SP with two 10' full guns on the roof and the driver telling his friend it was just too big to surf, out of control. We took that as a good reason to go home, via a quick dip at Bolinas.

Bolinas was about head high and smaller. The bigger waves closed out and the smaller ones rolled along without much excitment, but it was wet.

The last week in Feb I was on vacation with my wife on the Big Island of Hawaii. There were waves out in the ocean somewhere, but all I ever found was some small wave bodysurfing at Hapuna Beach. It was warm, in clear water, and with not too many locals to make it unsurfable. The weekend did bring more boogers to the beach but we were on a schedule and didn't have much time anyway.

Now I'm several weeks since a decent session and I may be making up for it chasing down a used Hess board. I've wanted one for a long time, and this used one is a good price and is close to if not exactly what I would order if I was to buy a new one. I'll have to see how it works out, whether I pull the trigger or not. I'm leaning towards yes, especially since the wife is starting work and we'll be a two income household again. And she's been spending money doing her things, and we just had a cheap vacation, and the tax return is coming, and...

I'm probably gonna surf this weekend, good waves or not, just because I have friends in town and I'm getting desparate. Here's a photo of the board. It's 6'2" 19 3/4 and 2 9/16 thick.

Linda Mar

I've been sick. Really sick, for a long time. It started with a flu that laid me out flat, home sick for 5 days. This was followed by a three weeks and counting of a nagging, sometimes exhausting cold. In that time I've surfed three sessions at Linda Mar that have been surprisingly satisfying. The first two were about the same of 4-6' in front of the bathrooms to TacoBell. Nice walls that were make-able, with some crowd. I've been on the Haut2 and it was the right board for the days. I even got a narrel on an inside peak. I caught it late and behind, stood up forward on the board and stayed low as the lip tried to toss over me.

Today was the third session in a row at Linda Mar. LM has fun, smaller, weaker waves than most of what is around here so it's perfect for someone still fighting a cold. Today was a bit smaller, but I had the GeeBee out and was doing fine on it. We surfed the same spot, but with the small size we got bored and paddled/walked north. There was a good bowl one peak short of the far north end. It was holding a bowl/wall up to 6' with good shape. The crowd was a hassle, but I got a few good ones anyway. I even got another narrel on a left. I dropped in at an angle, grabbed the rail and the lip hit my outside shoulder before the wave dissolved in the channel.

I feel okay, but tired so I think I'll have to go home early today :)

Big John Street

Last Saturday I got out to John St. for some big NNW swell. The angle was about 298deg which is marginal for the west side, but the size was around 12' @ 16sec, or maybe bigger. There were surfable waves breaking with about 4' of high water over the reefs. I went out on the higher water to try out the Buttons in some speedy reef surf. I didn't think it would work because the Buttons has a narrow tail and wants to sit in the pocket. John St is a somewhat sectiony wave without a lot of hollow power to it. The way most people surf it is to make a mid-face turn on the drop and pump the wall until it closes. This is a perfect wave for the quad.
My first wave I rushed the bottom turn and fell over when the board turned slower than my body did. A few more wasted waves, mostly making the bottom turn only to find the wave already outran me. The waves were overhead on the sets and I was sitting up in the cove at John, hoping for a bowl I could make on the slower pintail. I finally found one I could make the shoulder on but when I can off the bottom I hit some kelp and the board stopped dead in the water. That was it and I ran up the cliff to switch boards.
I switched to the Haut2 which is a perfect board for John St. I caught a few from the bowl and was making waves but the tide was getting good and the crew was changing from the hesitant to the aggressive. Then the big set came.
I was just deep of the point and in good position for the first waves of the set. I turned on the second but got held up in the lip and muffed the drop. When I came up from under water I saw there was another one just like it, maybe a bit bigger. I tried to duckdive and lost the handle. I tried to just wait in the water and the next one washed me down. Each wave was a little bigger but I couldn't really tell how big because nobody was dropping in. They were at least 8' as I was getting worked across the section and around the corner of Mitchell's. I ended up out by the rip-rap past Mitchell's before the waves stopped. Even then there was so much current I had to paddle hard just to stay in place. Eventually the current abated and I was able to get to the beach at Mitchell's. (Mitchell's has less sand than I've ever see in there!)
I walked back up to the point and hit the water again, but with no reward. The crowd was aggressive and tightly packed. I had a few chances when someone deeper missed the wave, but it was always too close to call in time for me to catch the wave. I ended up paddling in without a wave.