The Spice of Life (HMB Jetty)
Luke, on a surfboard he hadn’t ridden lately: It took me a few waves to redial into this board.Me: That’s why I don’t like to switch boards.Luke: Variety is the spice of life.Me: Riding waves is the spice of life.The surf was a completely mystery this …
I Heart Dead Presidents (HMB Jetty)
Inexplicably, my company gave us a 4-day weekend for Presidents’ Day. Hey, I ain’t complainin’, since I had the opportunity to surf at the right tide, which was smack in the middle of everyone else’s workday. We’ve had a run of storms that made the oce…
Cold Pleasure (Pleasure Point)
In view of the tides today, I was open to surfing either Santa Cruz before work or Half Moon Bay after. Two of my buddies voted for the former, and we were to meet up at the Hook at dawn. The new groundswell hadn’t come up as much as I’d expected, s…
Better Than Stitches (HMB Jetty)
I was looking forward to a less-crowded surf session, at the Jetty on a Saturday at dawn. Sadly, there were already a couple of guys in the water when I arrived, and the number of surfers swelled to six, then nine, then more than a dozen, as the sun ro…
Blind People Shouldn’t Surf in Crowds (Capitola)
With a big WNW groundswell coming up through the day, I had a notion that Capitola might be good for an early afternoon session. When Darren, J-Bird and I arrived, it was firing, with set waves on the outside peak going slightly overhead. Truth be told…
Balmy (Roosevelt & HMB Jetty)
The air was nearing 60 degrees when I arrived at Dunes for one more surf before I step into winter in Moscow. There we already a dozen surfers on the main peak, and I watched as a couple of 7- to 8-foot closeouts swept through the pack. Most made it ov…
Rabbits (Dunes)
Fun chest- to shoulder-high clean waves this morning in Half Moon Bay, and just my little surf posse on it: Luke, J-Bird and Jacob. The paddle out was easy and the lulls not too long. A few waves were fast and workable to the inside for long rides, …
A Lotta Stoke with My Friends (HMB Jetty)
J-Bird and Jacob, Luke and Beth, and I met up at the Jetty this morning for one last surf session with Nikki before she starts almost two months away from the ocean. The waves were glassy and chest- to head-high, the sun was shining in a clear blue sky…
Green Around the Gills (Indicators/Cowells)
I had high hopes for the first surf of 2011. Since a stormy weekend thrashed my Sunday surf plans with friends (who doggedly went anyway), it was four days into the new year before I got to surf. Big groundswell has the western breaks going well over…
Goodbye 2010 (HMB Jetty)
On the last day of 2010, conditions were similar to Tuesday. The session started late morning to catch the tide falling from an early high so I missed the probably pink again sunrise (another storm is on the way), but the sea was more glassy than last …