I slept in this morning.. i'm bumming about it as OB looks pretty surfable.. winds are only 2mph out of the SW.. cams look about shoulder high.. I had a stony session at Linda Mar yesterday evening as the sun set.. that place really loves the south wind.. conditions were groomed offshore.. the waves were weak and small but i found many enjoyable pockets and sections.. I also found a peak all by myself even though there were probably 70 people out. Probably the best beginner conditions i've ever seen! seriously. small, mellow and comfortable.. My new board is slick.. super light and maneuverable.. I haven't had any nicely shaped/powerful waves to really test it on yet.. but it's notable how much a difference a few pounds make in terms of the ability to tweak little lip hits and cutties and shit.. MUCH more maneuverable.. I've been fantasizing about backside 360s.. where you turn up the face on your backside (left for me).. then instead of cranking to the right for a backside snap.. you stay low and just keep turning to the left until you've spun around.. I'm going to try a bunch the next time the waves are mellow.. Fort Point is a great wave for such a maneuver as the shoulder is chunky and mushy..

anyhoo.. go get some homies!

e

I was the only OB taker for this morning's dawn-patrol.. I picked up my freshly shaped 6'8" M10 after work yesterday and had to give it a spin this morning no matter what.. I got down to VFWs at around 6:15.. it was still dark but the frickin wind was already raging onshore out of the SW. I cruised the beach, didn't see anything better.. then came back and surfed VFers all by my lonesone.. the waves were shoulder high and warbling/junky/sucking/disorganized and ugly.. I could barely even get a feel for my new board as the waves basically had zero shape at all.. For all of you who slept in this morning instead of dawn-patrolling.. GOOD WORK!

man.. hopefully this wind will mellow.. or maybe pacifica is doing ok? It's weird.. but it looks like the wind has actually died down a bit at OB? hmm.. not a big tidal shift today.. 3ft low tide at 9am, 5ft hight tide at 5pm..

good luck out there!

oh yeah.. there were also tons of circling and diving birds out at OB today.. soo.. food chain in effect..

surfed VFWs from 6:10 till 8.. just about all my SF surfing pals showed up for the dawn patrol.. Lerm represented, even though he spent the night "waxing poetic" with the lady-friend.. Robme showed up.. and wowed all with some impressive surfing.. taking off on one gnarled/sucking closout in particular.. Robme has a penchant for such antics.. The "Originator" Tom Haan was out there.. slanking along in his smooth east-coast style.. also Sam-the-Man and BBers showed up and ripped the place up..

the conditions were peaky and head-high.. glassy when we first paddled out but near blown-out by the time i came in.. Tons of waves, breaking not too steeply.. very peaky.. fun! I witnessed a sea-lion surfing a wave..

oh yeah.. last night was some of the best conditions of the summer.. definitive evening glass-off.. head-high/barrelling peaky waves.. I spent one memorable moment in the "white-room".. i basically pulled into this close-out barrel on the inside.. the wave was all foamy and sucking and white/brown.. i was grabbing my rail on my backside and just holding-on... trying to make it out to daylight.. but.. NOPE.. the wave shut down and just jackhammered me into the shallow bottom.. it was sweet..

hey all! well... OB welcomed me back with open arms this morning. Jerm and I pulled up to Sloat at around 6:20 to see head-high-plus, semi-glassy waves breaking pretty far out. The wind was relatively non-existent and there was nobody out.. we suited up (unprecendented dry wettie for me!!), stretched and hit it.. some nice, chunky bombes cruising in and ridable.. i saw a few barrels grinding along.. the tide was pretty low and the waves were breaking in shallow water way out.. If the wind doesn't pick up today it should be sweet just about everywhere.. I'm not sure where these waves were coming from as the buoys aren't showing anything huge.. a 7ft 9sec NW wind swell and a 2ft 13sec S groundswell.. maybe a combo of the two..

anyhoo.. i actually got some good waves my last day on block island.. i'm going to craft a little story depicting the experience of surfing black rock..

e

what's up boyz! chillin' here on Block Island, RI.. i've surfed twice at a rock-reef break called Black Rock and had a killer body surfing session on scotch beach.. the water is a refreshing 70 degrees and the air has been hot and humid.. the waves have been super small.. i caught some little sections at black rock on monday.. and some painfully small waves this morning.. The bikinis have been hooking it, however... some serious "talent" in affect... Robbie.. i also saw a nice little left point break down near Cunamus road.. i'm not sure it's the same as the one we discussed but it looked to have serious potential.. 1 foot waves were peeling and peeling along the point.. it was cool.. i wish there was more swell as Block Island has many reef and point setups and the water is warm.. but.. alas.. the doldrums of the east coast are the reality..

anyway.. hope that you heads get some waves over there.. september is around the corner.. yeah!!!

peace out y'all.. lobsters tonight for dinner..

e

surfed for about an hour this morning at Sloat.. 5ft 9sec. NW wind swell combined with a 2ft 14sec South groundswell produced a few crumbly/sometimes-steep walls and sections. I was the only taker for about 45 minutes until a few guys paddled out at around 7:15. The wind was blowing out of the SSW at 8 mph.. soo. pretty much a south wind.. maybe offshore down in "P-town"? dunno though.. OB was surfable if you're looking to get wet..
waist to shoulder high, some waves closing, others offering short/bursting shoulders.. A good surfer could bash the lip quite nicely out there if he/she were so inclined..

nor-cal secret spot - last winter

Robbie and i surfed VFWs this morning for about an hour.. it was almost pitch-black darkness at 6:05 as we got started.. the days are getting shorter again.. The conditions were small with a slight bit of nothing coming through.. Robbie actually nabbed a few nice, long, slow rides all the way to the beach.. To be fair, there were actually a few sections to go around.. but they were very few and far between.. the wind was already blowing out of the SW, putting a little chop to the sea-surface.. The waves might have been better down between Sloat and 2nd-lot-Sloat as they were breaking closer to the beach.. but.. there really was no escaping the crappy conditions at OB this morning.. Santa Cruz seemed to be catching the South swell that's in the water right now.. i saw some impressive walls cruising into the Lane on the surfline cam.. if you're not working.. there is a 2ft low tide around noon that might hook you up down there??

word - e

i checked the beach this morning at 6:30 and it was basically flat.. there were a few crumbly/dumpy waves on offer.. but.. you'd have to be pretty desperate.. or maybe you want to take your girlfriend or your grandma out to OB.. HOwever.. i surfed sundown last night and had a fantastic session.. it was small.. but just big enough to offer some meaty/peeling sections.. I had the place to myself too.. soo.. no crowd issues.. just that foggy/dark/quiet/solo sharky vibe that i had to contend with... the best way to avoid the sharky vibe is to take as many rides as possible..

soo.. i'm off to Block Island on Friday.. I'll probably just give an east-coast surf update while i'm there.. then you heads can discuss bay area conditions via the forum..

well.. i'm hoping for maybe a repeat of yesterday afternoon today.. but.. i'm not keeping my fingers crossed.. it looks like the swell is way down.. It's glassy out there and warm though..

e

i didn't surf this morning.. i was in the dentist chair again and then i've been pounding at work.. looks smaller but surfable.. supposed "well-defined" south swell in the water.. anybody get waves?

i didn't surf this morning as i have to get a cavity drilled.. but it seems that conditions are a bit better than yesterday (sunday) with a new south swell filling in.. Cams have it looking smooth and fun.. kinda wish that i was out there and not about to be in the dentist chair.

Don't know how many of you surfed on Saturday morning.. but it probably was the best it's been all summer.. uber-glassy shoulder high, chunky waves cruising in.. Super crowded at Second-lot Sloat but still enough waves for everybody.. yesterday was much shittier.. waves dumping/breaking in super shallow water, not many sections really.. but i did see a few people ripping it up.. soo.. i guess it's really what you make of it.. i've seen and learned that a good surfer can succeed in performing amazing maneuvers in even the shittiest conditions..

anyhoo.. go out and surf right now! (8:44am) if you're reading this.. as the wind will probably pick up as the day goes on..

woke up this morning to an unprecedented environment of muggy warmth!! at 6am!! warm out!! anyway.. Lerm and i surfed 2nd-lot-Sloat/Ft. Funston from 6:15-8 and managed to have a good time.. the waves were smaller than yesterday.. waist high mostly.. with a few waves reaching shoulder heighth.. the sea-surface was an utter, total sheet of glass.. absolutely zero wind.. we saw a guy paddle out in a spring suit.. Jerm flirted with the barrel on one wave.. and i managed a few fun rides.. it's just nice to cruise down the line when the waves are translucently glassy. the tide was real low this morning (-1 at 6:15)... there will be a 5ft high tide at around 2pm.. don't know if that will mush out the surf or not.. BUT... there are sure to be mad numbers of bikinis on the beach today (which in SF means about 2 or 3 bikinis!) so.. you should get out there and impress all those nubile ladies with some shralping of waves!

this is about what it looked like this morning at Ft. Funstoned..

yup.. top-notch summer surf this morning at OB.. Surfed Sloat with Lerm and Robme from 6:15 till 8.. warm air and water... absolutely zero wind.. steep, waist-shoulder-high uber-glassy peelers cruising through and breaking in about 2 or 3 feet of water.. dry hair paddle out.. barely anyone else out until around 7:15.. pretty crowded when we got out at 8.. Robme got some barrel time. I almost stuffed myself in one but couldn't quite get in there. real fun.. probably still going right now (9:30)... soo.. don't hesitate.. pretty much small NW wind-swell mixed with mild SW groundswell pulses.. a stronger SW pulse is expected for sunday/monday.. soo.. be on the lookout..

sick!

e

fun surf this morning at Sloat.. shoulder-high glassy, semi-sucking little peaks and walls scattered about.. we had some issues with people paddling right to where we were surfing.. for no discernible reason.. but then things smoothed when we paddled away from them and then finally got them to stop following us! seriously! it was weird.. tons of relatively high-performance little shoulders and sections.. I did a few floaters that felt pretty good.. one on my frontside and one on my backside.. the backside one was on a pretty hefty wave.. i was cruising along.. then steered up to the top of the wave as the lip was throwing out.. i was really low over my board as i kind-of rode the pitching lip.. but didn't land it.. instead i smacked my face into the water really hard.. and was red and stingy for a while afterwards.. Great to see Robme out there.. but too bad we didn't get to surf with him because of the aforementioned dudes following us around..

go get some..

it didn't look too good from the great highway this morning around 6:20am.. but Jerm and I surfed Sloat for about 1.5 hours and managed to have a blast.. i think that we were the only "takers" at OB this morning.. the waves were mostly windswell but often walled-up and offered some small but racy sections.. Jerm was reaching across his body on a few waves for some funky cross-body/grab-rail lay-back action. I snapped my leash somehow but then basically tied the broken leash to my ankle so that i wouldn't have to keep swimming in.. the waves were waist/shoulder high and pretty lumpy. though the sun was out and the wind was pretty miniscule..

the answer to the "guess this wave challenge" for yesterday was TASMANIA..

see if you heads can guess today's wave..

what's up peeps! sorry no reports over the weekend.. no excuse but laziness and hangin' with lady-friend.. conditions look small and shitty at OB.. wind staying mellow at 5knots out of the SW.. not much swell to speak of.. a teeny bit of SW groundswell and some lingering steep NW windswell.. but the sea-surface seems junky at OB. I surfed Lindy both days over the weekend.. it was weak and gutless both days but fun nevertheless.. Lindy (and Rockaway) really like the south wind and conditions were flirting with offshore on both days... Lindy might be the call today too.. i didn't get a chance to surf this morning but will probably roll down there this afternoon.. i mean.. the conditions are really small.. but i've been having some fun catching little shore-dump sections and close-out barrels and such.. it's just nice to be out there when it's glassy and warm too.

can anyone guess where this wave is? it's a toughy..

Jerm and i cruised OB this morning at around 6:30.. we almost surfed VFWs but decided to get some pancakes instead.. it was basically crap.. just real small (waist high) waves inconsistently cruising in and then gutlessly dumping and/or mushily puttering along.. i saw a *few* slightly interesting sections but they were very few and far between.. if you're jonesin real hard you could probably appease your jones slightly with a few drops and maybe a section or two.. but.. it's pretty bad.. AND the wind is blowing strait out of the west instead of the recent S/SW wind we've been enjoying..

anyhoo.. that's the dirt..

great to see "pope" from www.santabarbarasurf.com and "black" from http://www.well.com/~talas9/ checking into niceness.org.. nice representation gentlemen!

e

not too bad out there this morning.. it looked small from the parking lot but then ended up packing a punch once out there.. I surfed VFWs from 6:30-8. SF buoy is 5ft 8sec but it seemed that some south groundswell was sneaking in every 5 minutes or so.. the sea surface wasn't too bad as the wind remained calm... though it's picking up slowly now.. I had a nice peak all to myself for about 20 minutes.. then this group of 4 surfers paddled out right to me! I was bummed and paddled away to a lesser peak... but i still snaked a bunch of rides.. you could either chill on the outside today and wait for the infrequent but nicely peeling bombs, or prowl on the inside and try to pick off tons of little sections. I managed some power carves (at least "power" for me) on a few rights.. I'm starting to be able to go "off the bottom, off the top, off the bottom, off the top" now.. so that feels good.. It really comes down to being balanced and aggressive starting at the take-off.. then it takes just a subtle directional change to redirect the speed gained through the drop into the bottom turn.. then it's all about unleashing the energy and power of the amassed speed into the top-turn/cutback.. i've been really trying to exhale and fully extend through my top-turns/cutbacks.. especially when the wave eases up at the end of a peeling section.. that's when i know i can unload all the speed and energy i have into a turn. Next for me is learning how to really *snap* off the top.. instead of just turning off the top.. i want to be able to do one, quick, lightning *THWACK* right off the critical section at the top of the wave.. then airdrop back into the face.. again it's all about a good bottom turn.. then channelling the speed back up the face of the wave.. then initiating the turn at the exact right time.. then letting the wave do the work for you. i've felt a few good *thwacks*.. they feel reeaaall good.. i want more!!

anyhoo.. if any of you have insight about this please post a comment!

also.. check out the pics below from Sloat on July 30th..