E's Surf Report

First...If it matters

Some fun this weekend eh? Surfed south of SF on Sat. There was a hazard guy in the water paddling for bunches of waves, missing most and blowing take-offs on the ones he caught. The point of his board scored a direct hit on my upper rib cage and knocked me off my board. Yep, it hurt but nothing broken.

Surfed twice yesterday for a total of 5 hours. Good description E. Lovin' it. Steamwand was chargin it on her fish. What can be wrong with head-high glassy waves? Nottin.

Oh Yeah. Went to the movie 'Campaign 2' on Saturday night. It was a fun movie. Good to see some of the pro's acting out of character. Man, I wish I could surf like them. Kudos to Billabong and Surfpulse for sponsoring the fund-raiser for Katrina and Rita victims.

Hi Tim. I know you're out there... watching ;^)

e- i got myself one of those hug the wall, glassy sets you wrote about-kinda nice...

I got myself a few fun waves + a whoreanus sinus infection. not nice at all. anybody else think local waters seem dirty / red tide-y lately?

eric- my sinus's were killing me last night and the water looked filthy- the back of my throat was and is on fire today...

gotta bad dry sore throat after surfing saturday and then a full cold on sunday surfed anyway fun surf - can the water give you a cold/sore throat that soon if it is full of germ and red tide?

Perfect weekend to be out of town! DAMN

This morning:
Rain on the car at 6:15, little wind if any, beach was decent from first light until 7:30 and then the S winds became more apparent. Decent but probably not the same potential as Sat/Sun around here.

I had a cold this weekend, so I didn't surf. Let's not get into this whole "the ocean made me sick" stuff. Seems it's quite popular to claim this every year, especially when it starts raining, as if the ocean is some sort of massive cess pool. And red tides are rare, usually happening in the spring, not the fall. Maybe I'm just a little sensitive to bashing nature. It seems like surfers who have problems with the quality of our water should do something about it, not just complain. Grrrrr....

wow, oceanside.

Did anyone find a grey nokia phone in the dirt beetween the 2 sloat lots saturday? (closer to the south lot) by slim chance?

talk about good times good good times
-sprung monkey

...in other words, it's people's kids that are getting us all sick, not the ocean. Like Bernie Mac said on TV the other night re kids who bring home illnesses: "They're nasty, dirty, disease-carrying midgets - like rats, only difference is, no tails and their teeth aren't as sharp."

Bernie surfs too!

We're about a month delayed from last year's conditions, aren't we? Lots and lots of good waves both days at the beach.

yeah my sinuses get fucked every year about this time from the water. now when i sleep i've gotta breath through my mouth which makes me snore like a motherfucker which leads to the wife kicking me to the couch... oh well the waves on saturday were worth it.

shout out to dennis for loaning me his leash after mine snapped in half on my second wave. it was the first time in my life that the actual leash snapped and the wave wasn't over chest high for a normal person (maybe head high for me). it was weird. anyway, my session would've sucked had it not been for not been for big d's generosity. as it turned out, i had a blast. thanks dennis!
also, i just want to state a few observations after my first fall weekend day surfing during peak hours with totally accessible waves and good conditions:
1) The level of surfing was really impressive where i was at. Some serious rippers and the vast majority of surfers totally competent. There was this one young kid who surfed amazingly. Better than most of the guys down in sc who think they're going places. This boy never fell and surfed so fast and smoothly. GO BOY!
2) People were generally pretty darn respectful and nice. Saw only a few blatant drop-ins (boo!) and almost no overt harshness, very little stinkeye even. Maybe we can all get along!?!
3) Also I saw very little board ditching and even then it was mostly the longboarders who tried to hang on but couldn't. But I do have one word on this tip: If you are out in a crowd of any size, and you have to ditch your board, intentionally, and dive under, after you have done so it is time to collect your board and paddle in. Having ditched your board should be all the indication you need that you are out in conditions that exceed your ability and you need to find another safer spot. Safer for you and everyone around you, because even if you didn't hurt someone that time ditching your board, you might next time.

While I am spouting my opinions, i thought I would take a moment to chime in on the teaching people to surf discussion: I admit that I am guilty of taking quite a few people out for their first surfs, largely because this is an activity that brings me so much joy and I just want to share. Of all those people (probably 10 or so), only one of them has continued to surf with any regularity and she's my partner, who i really want to share my love of surfing so she'll go with me on crazy surf adventures and put up with my nonsense. although she has learned to surf, she refuses to go anywhere near ob (or even lindy) because she hates closeouts, really only likes pointbreaks. also, she will only surf when it's sunny and warm. all this to say that really it's only those people who have the inner drive who will stay in the water and we probably couldn't keep them away if we tried. we live in a huge urban area and we are lucky to have a long peaky beach, which provides fun waves occasionally. we should count our blessing and be cool to each other.

Waters are extra toxic right now- it's a new super potent form of an organism in the red tide Pfisteria piscecida, recent counts by local microbiologists have shown a rise by 500% to "alarming" and hazardous levels.

It's so bad that "researchers studying it, suffered neurological damage such as memory loss and mood alterations from breathing, toxins released by the algae into the air immediately above the bloom"

It should be gone by spring, until then it is advised to stay out of the water. Wind help release toxins so stay clear of breezy or offshore days.

Bbr, you snore too? I've only recently started snoring, and it's making me wonder why all of a sudden.

Surf was alright Sunday. I can't wait till it gets like last week Weds. again.

artifact, where are you quoting from? I would like to read the whole article. Thanks.

fanning eleminated at Hossegar

right on steamwand.

surfseeker7 - With all due respect - coastal waters near high density population areas like the Bay Area are a great source of exposure to bacteria and viruses that can cause disease. Other pollutants, such as petroleum products detergents and pesticides can also cause health problems for surfers when they are allowed to get into the surf-zone. Just why some local surfers are complaining of sinus irritation, etc now may be a bit of a mystery, since we've had no rain in a while. However, there have been reports of an algal bloom (associated w/ so-called "red tide") in SM county for about a week now - maybe that's where some of this is coming from.
As far as doing something about water quality goes, personally, I've been involved with Surfriders' Blue Water Task Force since its inception. Check it out at: http://www.surfrider.org/programs/bwtf.asp

The north end of OB had a really "fishy" smell on Sunday--like someone dumped/chummed the water. However, a quarter-mile south there was no smell at all. Thought maybe there was a dead whale floating around--water didn't look like a red tide though. Anyone have an idea what it was?

Great waves Saturday. Ah yeah.

cheers to a great weekend and being sore.
bout frickin' time.

nice to see all of ya'll that i have seen trolling around
looking for, at and getting some surf.

shout out for excel if you are pondering a suit.
got my year old one back from them fixed up
real nice in tow weeks and no $. i am so sold on
them.

amigoism, seal rock is covered in bird sh*t. bird sh*t smells fishy and sh*tty. It's been months since the sh*t layer has been washed off by rain/waves.

There is no sh*t covered rock on the south end, hence no smell.

Steamwand - you're welcome. That's what this community is about :^)

On the sinus note, I feel fine but my snot had a yellow - orange coloration on Sunday morning. Surfing is adding years to my life in terms of physical and psych health but the water might be taking off days.

President Bush called on Americans to conserve gasoline and avoid non-essential driving today...

Trips to the beach- essential or non-essential?

Neither, driving to the beach is mandatory!

Jimmie, good info. I need to get into Surfrider again. It's been a few years (ok, several) since I attended a meeting!

I understand that some people are more affected by red tide than others. I'm not too sensitive as a rule. My point today is that most of us are getting the common cold from a bug going around, not from the ocean. The nastiness this month is in your and other peoples mucous membranes, not in the ocean, generally speaking. So:

1) if you're sick, don't go to work/school when you're contagious and spread it around.
2) wash your hands more often
3) cover your mouth/nose when you cough/sneeze
4) if you have kids, make sure they follow #1 ,#2 & #3!

I usually don't post these pics as Kaiser could easily outdo me with his repertoire but in this case... What can I say.

Nice boobs

As a teacher, I always go work when i'm ill, it's payback :^)

Seal - broken!

I "hugged the wall" plenny this weekend. Dolphins eyeballing from two feet away = nice. Dolphins intentionally turning back over the peak simply to catch a wave before moving on = they are like us.

Saw 1 pretty good verbal (almost physical) fight in the water, a very loud, large Italiano goateed, yelling as if he were drunk at a football game the entire time. Nonstop, super-annoying, just shouting and cursing and hollwering at absolutely nothing all morning. I thought of going ballistic but said to myself "Watch, someone else is going to get fed up with this rube and do my handiwork for me." Sure enough, half-hour later he's going full-on in a shouting match with some other guy who is yelling/begging him to either be quiet or go surf somewhere else. I couldn't have agreed more, the guy was a full KOOK, his whole attitude seemed to suggest a misplaced Ritalin bottle, a Big Gulp of coffee, or perhaps the misplaced angst of a long sexual dry spell. Either way, he was a superduper vibe-buster and he got regulated, as was his due.

Yay OB....

Yeah, really it's nasty out there. Life arose from the sea, it is a cesspool of all sorts of stuff including algae, bacteria, viruses, sharks etc. Most of the stuff has barely been studied or even identified but it is definately harmful. Look at the evolution of toxins in the marine enviornment- they are everywhere. Just go order some cheap Fugu at your local sushi spot and find out. Now with the increased pollutants, changing ocean temps, more surfers than ever in the H20 peeing in their suits- this stuff is blooming. Had a friend get a crazy Staph infection from surfing a well known rivermouth a couple years ago (with an tiny cut)

Next time you see your crusty Sunset neighboor soaping up and washing their car, you can thank them.

http://www.surfrider.org/stateofthebeach/05-sr/state.asp?zone=WC&state=ca&cat=wq

not new news artifact...
when i first moved to the west coast (1994) i had
a new friend i had recently met get a staph in her
arm and nearly LOST HER ARM from it. frickin' scared
the poop outta me. in the southeast we GO INTO the
water to help heal cuts and what not.

Dennis, that pic hurts so good.

Korewin, My experience with the East Coast waters (which ain't much) I have a hard time beleiving the water is cleaner there than here.

Korewin, sorry for your friend- it's serious, scary stuff. Yeah not new, just a reminder. Everything we do has consequences. One of the other main problems (obviously) is hormones/antibiotics/fertilizers/ pesticides used in livestock and coastal crops. The runoff is helping promote these new super-resistant bugs- incuding vancomycin resistant staph etc. I'm sure we'll be hearing a bunch more about that stuff soon.

"Tug on anything at all and you'll find it connected to everything else in the universe"
John Muir

Probably been about 150 years since the water at OB was clean, just varying degrees of dirty since then.

The trend, in general, is that harbors and urban water ways are becoming much less polluted. In fact, biota growing on structures has become a big problem a new problem in the past 10 years that was relatively rare 30 years ago. The flipside being fewer man-made toxins doesn't mean the biota that is compatible with us...but at least we got less mercury (from local sources) in the water. I personally worry more about horse stables, cattle farms, and agricultural run-off than I do about industrial sources.

I was surfing in Harvey Cedars, NJ in the early 70's on a very foggy day. I heard a boat approaching me slowly, which was a good thing cuz I was sitting next to a jetty. A small 22' to 25'er pulled up next to me and asked how to get to Barnegate Lighthouse!

The water quality there in the 60's and 70's was often atrocious with raw sewage and medical waste floating about periodically. It was cleaned up in the late 70's and seemed very clean from then on. I suppose there is runoff problems now as the area has been built up quiet a bit.

We have one of the best setups in the urban world for clean water at the beach, for two reasons.

1) The solution to pollution is infinite dilution (a saying I learned from Bo Barnes). The Bay washes 577 billion gallons of water in and out with each tide change. That dilutes whatever is here substantially.

2) All runoff in the city is treated, including the crusty Sunset neighbor washing his car. The runoff does NOT go directly into the ocean. The exception to this is overflow events during particularly hard rains.

The most recent water samples at all SF stations tested SAFE for human water recreational activities.

Most of these super-resistent bugs come from the misuse/overuse of antibiotics.

Cold/Flu and a lot of lung infections, etc are due to viruses not bacteria - people go to their doctor and expect to get their antibiotics to "cure all" - recipe for disaster

Awwww. Now yins are just posting my throw-away pics...

I also got a sinus infection Saturday night into Sunday. Continued to surf. Don't know if it's the water quality or the increase in surf exercise over the past 2 weeks without enough rest. Maybe both. Never gotten sick from surfing w/o rain though.

Anyone know why Slater has been riding Simon Anderson boards in the last couple of contests? France pics show a SA board with a Merrick sticker on the nose.

Red tide usually occurs this time of year because
a) water is warmest
b) winds are down, preventing mixing with deep water
Overall kinda funky smell and color but other than not eating shellfish from red tide I don't know of any other adverse health effects.

Actually Blakestah the standards of water testing don't really capture the toxic nature of a red tide, it only tests for levels of well known identifiers which is a fraction of toxins, bacteria, viruses and pollutants. Kind of like a hot chick taking STD test for only herpes and crabs and saying they are STD free. Would you do em? Maybe if they are hot enough- but you still might get sick.

1) Yeah all that Bay runoff is super clean. I'd much rather drink bay water than ocean water. Mmm I wonder where that Bay water goes?

2) Last time I checked there are many storm drains in the city marked blue "drains to the bay/ ocean" or "Only Rain Down the Drain ". All runoff is NOT treated, even the percentage that is treated isn't 100% effective. Must be why the SFPUC implemented this new program. Why would you encourage people to pollute?

"San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) today unveiled a major new public education campaign to reduce water pollution levels in the San Francisco Bay, ocean and local lakes by combating the illegal dumping of hazardous liquids and other materials into the City?s 25,000 storm drains and catch basins. The Only Rain Down the Drain effort features prominent new curbside drain markers"

?Every San Franciscan has a part to play in protecting our coastal waters and lakes,? said San Francisco Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, whose district includes Lake Merced. ?Every resident and business owner should take care not to let trash, oil, or other hazardous materials wash down street drains and if you see illegal dumping, be sure to report it immediately.?

http://sfwater.org/detail.cfm/MC_ID/5/MSC_ID/14/MTO_ID/NULL/C_ID/2122

http://sfwater.org/main.cfm/MC_ID/4/MSC_ID/92

What steamwand said: bunch of people in the water with all types of boards, good vibes, things went really smoothly. Nice to see it working out.

I too was not so secretly delighted to watch the pros wiping out at the end of the surf flick. Even more enchanting: waves that break, peel, and...get this....they KEEP GOING AND GOING ! What is this?! Waves?! Ha! Impossible. Those long rides must have been computer generated - waves like that don't exist in the real world.

Kloo sorry to miss you..I think I was forever 1/2 block south of your position.

Secret Doom Dada, what was did the board look like that "Old Yeller" was riding? Also, were you surfing at Lindy by chance?

To those with sinus issues... I used to get sinus infections all the time. I still get them occasionally but have found doing a few things prevents them from going ballistic. As soon as my sinuses start feeling a little funky, here's what I do:

1) Take Pseudoephedrine. I usually take regular Sudafed because it's pure Pseudoephedrine, but you can also take Tylenol Sinus or something like that. It keeps your sinuses from getting filled with mucus.

2) Load up on vitamins.

3) Drink a lot of water and other clear, non-sugary liquids. Keeps your mucus thin.

4) Avoid alcohol, dairy products, and anything with a large amount of sugar. These make your mucus thick. Thick mucus in your sinuses harbors bacteria and prolongs the healing process.

5) Rinse your sinuses with salt water multiple times per day. This keeps your sinuses clean and free of mucus. I used to use a salt water inhaler but started to have problems with the preservative in the liquid. I switched to SinuCleanse (http://www.sinucleanse.com/) and it rocks. You can also just use a Neti Pot.

The last step is key and really helps. It's a little weird pouring salt water in your nose. It feels a lot like the sinus rinse you get after going over the falls or something. It helps though.

Basically, all these steps except for #2 have to do with keeping your sinuses clean and free of mucus.

I'm no doctor but this stuff works for me...

Thanks mwsf. I had a hunch about #5; I haven't had a cold since I started surfing, and it's the rare session when I don't end up with a few quarts of nose water.

Still some shapely rides out there as of lunch. Crowded, esp. for a Monday, but not godawful.

Oh, and SS, hope you got some funables; 1/2 block south ... you would've been in a very good spot.

I, too, caught a glimpse of the verbal altercation--a few 100 yards south of VFW's. Not sure who started it. Didn't see any punches thrown or anything, but I was paying attention to waves not drama--it was irritating so I moved south out of earshot.

"Smoke alotta weed so my sinuses stay fucked up"

Damn. I shoulda went south the Newport. Pretty fun head-high peaks over the weekend. Sorry I missed ya Kaiser, hope you found some waves and didn't get shot in the 'Wood!

The ocean clears my sinuses..until i am out of the ocean.

i love this shot. this dude is charging it.

Hb, the Wood sucked. But Huntington looked real fun Sat. mid-day.

Didn't surf.

Surf Porn....

yeah dogs! i actually saw a dog catch a wave body surfing at baker sunday am, small world.

dogs rule!!!

bagel.. sucks you lost your phone. I called you on saturday arvo for partying purposes. I'm not sure if it's good that you missed it or not good?!

huh?

exactly.

TO KAISER: The "Yeller" was located between Judah and The Beach Chalet, drove a dark blue VW bus (circa 1990s) and he looked kind of like the guy who sings "I Will Survive" in that scene on the Santa Cruz Boardwalk from the movie "Lost Boys" (huge, ultra-prideful, bellowing voice that really did project a good 100 yards+ when he got himself worked up enough -- and that was about 85% of the time he was out there). It was ridiculous, he would just yell "FUck YEAH! LOok at that FUCKIN' PEAK! ***THAT'S*** WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!!! GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GOOOO!!!!" I shit you not, the guy said "go" that many times in a row, even more. It was nearly insane, dude's volume control and sense of self-restraint were just broken beyond repair. I kinda felt bad for the dude, he was oblivious to the 10 or so others surfers who would look around at each other w/ that facial expression like "WTF w/ this guy??"

Anyhow, he wasn't really a mean guy, just way over-the-top and acted like he owned the ocean. But if he were a smaller or younger guy acting like that, somebody would've given him the verbal violence sooner, for sure. I just went on my merry way, kept my own "bubble-O-niceness" around me and let the old bull elephant seal squawk out its territorial claim. I'd like to see what he thinks when there is any real juice in the water. He'll probably tear a vocal cord on that day...
;^)

That's funny.

it's 4:22, do you know where your nugs are?

Smashed into the lawn at the Greek Theatre.

Word E, does suck, exactly what you said, probably good and bad. Ill get another one though i guess. So i can call people when the waves get perfect.

surfed south south end high tide session with only a couple of buddies and it was almost starting to work but still was fun. a few peaks rolling in. still had a heck of a long paddle on a small day. must be getting stuck in a trough or something. I was about to declare myself the kook but I saw others paddling for a long time and realized we were going parallel to the beach and not perpendicular

There's a loud guy who frequents my local break who is not only loud but high-pitched. He'll yell/talk with anyone in the water from any distance and hoots himself before, during, and after his waves. It's actually a good strategy to claim a wave by making some noise. I only yell when I'm behind someone to tell them not to cutback and to get out of the way.

More good reasons to wear earplugs.

Can anyone confirm or glassy-ness?

nice waves, bbr!

i was a peak or two to the north of the screamer...we were wondering what the hubbub was. fun waves. it's great what the beach can do to some piddly windswell.

forgot to write deny. or however you spell it.

RE: board ditching at OB. Two lifelong surfers told me "everybody" ditches their board at OB at some point or another. Comments?

oh my god that first bbr shot.

still at work, so i'll respond re: board ditching. i would bet that on the really big days when board ditching is a necessity even for a totally experienced fit surfer, there probably is NOT a crowd around. because, we, the sane people, are in the lot watching you lunatics. i also know that there is probably no one out there who is going to heed my advice and leave the water after ditching their board. but maybe it will cause folks who would dive off their board willeynilley to reconsider and learn to duck dive head high waves.
btw, that description of the loudmouth is hilarious. overlystoked nuisance guy. i don't know why i just find that so funny and cute, it makes me smile just to think about it, although i'm sure it was annoying at the time.

josh shelly photos

nice bbr, id pick the top one

I just witnessed a guy drift north right past the surfpulse cam. popped up on the left hand side and was out of the picture in like 2 minutes ha.

I don't ditch.

I have before, but it is rarely an acceptable time to ditch. If the lip is 2+ stories above you, no one is within 50-75 yards, you are about to get crushed by the lip that you will never make it under, it MIGHT be ok to ditch.

I wouldn't recommend ditching.

the only thing I ditch when the surf is good is work.

I'll take that top one too BBr

i do a mini-ditch to keep from getting pulled over the falls sometimes. but the board is under control then. i dunno if there's a better strategy, but this seems to be safer for everyone than getting worked and cleaned up.

re ditching my strategy is to ride a small board and skip going out on days over 7-8 feet. yep, I'm certainly not a hardcore ob hell-person by any stretch. I also don't think a gun or even a semi gun is necessary when the waves are at head and a half, unless maybe they are super fast and hollow. I'm not good at waves like that either - i prefer the burgery days. so I've never felt the need to ditch my 6 4, though I have had it ripped out of my hands duck diving a few times on the hollower heavier days I've surfed. that sucks.

nice waves, horrible sinus infection after surfing on sat.
sinex nasal spray is some relief from pressure.
also, if you can actually suck any water in thru yer nose, use a neti pot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neti_pot
they might have them at other avenues on judah.

I love you guys, and I love surfing. And I love a girl. But I am going to die.

Everyone ditches at the beach. It may not be good form, but there is nothing wrong with it. Unless there is any chance at all your board is gonna hit someone else. If that is the case, hold on and take your lumps no matter what.

i've found the westernized version of the neti more effective. 60cc irrigation syringe (can order online), filled with warm salt water (use sea salts which are iodine free and do not cause the burn that normal table salt does - can get fine sea salt at trader joes) flushed with not gentle force through each nostril, letting it flow out through the opposite nostril.

twice a day keeps the doc away.

Shout out to the niceness crew from NYC. Here on business, but I took the redeye Saturday night and surfed with my buddy Adam at his Long Beach (LI) break upon arrival on Sunday morning. Warm water this time of year, but the waves were not that good, unfortunately. Lot's o dual and quad finned fish out here. Looking forward to getting back in the Pacific, though.

Hey Steve,

Right on. I saw pics of Jersey shores last week... looked real fun and nice.

Aloha E, in your BVB interv. he says, "maybe he pulled a charlie walker", let me know what this is, and how to get in touch with BVB, Thanks, Charlie Walker, Sunset, North Shore