i'm here in Ivyland, PA at my parents place right now.. it's fricken COOOLLD!! living in California has softened me up a bit... i used to think that some of those pre-surf mornings were frigid.. but now the coldness reaches down into my inner alviolis and penetrates my lower neck and just chills my shit.. but anyhoo.. I'm already jonesin' for slurf after missing two days, even though i surfed 7 days in a row last week. I've been reading that it's pumping in Nor Cal.. Man.. grrr.. I'm psyched for you heads though.. i'm sure that many more meaty faces and gaping barrels presented themselves today and yesterday... I also read about the shark attack at Salmon Creek.. umm.. yeah.. that sucks.. thankfully there is a huge shark net reaching from seal rock down to fort funstoned. that's why there has never been an attack at OB.. think about it... soo.. no worries if you're surfing OB..

I can't wait to get back and drop into some more fall season SF juice.. lately i've been realizing that i don't get nearly enough barrel time.. I need to stuff myself into those tubes more often than i do.. It's uncanny to watch the great barrel riders find shacks.. they just end-up slanking into barrels all over the place, usually while you're sitting around, congratulating yourself on some mediocre cutback. I don't know how they do it.. i'll sometimes be watching the action, from the beach or lineup or wherever, waves cruising in but not necessarily barrel-festing all over.. and some guy will just be finding little barrel sections all over.. see him take off on the outside and work it.. then ease back into what looks like a closeout.. then.. BLAM!... the dude's in and out of the green room!! WTF!! then you're paddling out and the same dude kinda sneaks into this brown/foamy inside weirdness.. and PHWACK!! .. he's in the barrel again. GUH!!! then you try to get shacked on only manage to wipe it in the closeout barrel.. then you come to the surface and open your eyes and that same guy is flying down the line, adjusting and edging his way into yet another sick pit..

i want to be that guy!!!!

may you all enjoy juicy shackage this weekend!!
and may your weekend be filled with juicyness on many levels!!!

i feel like a broken record here... but.. again.. conditions at good ol' OB were glassy, head-high and amazing.. gentle offshore feathering the lips, oily-glass sea-surface allowing for unblemished slabs of carvable wave.. the line-up at VFers was populated but not painfully crowded.. people were stoked in general and there were a lot of waves cruising in. Some of the outside bombies were just immaculate beauties.. probably 8 feet on the faces, throwing out makeable barrels both left and right.. people hootin' and wooin' simply because the waves looked sooo incredible.. I saw a few telephoto lenses up on the breakwall..

as for my session.. i caught a bunch of great rides right off the bat.. steep drops and buried the rail a few times.. then i got into this funk where i biffed a few take-offs and wiped out, knowing that i just blew perfect lip-bashing opportunities.. that bummed me out.. soo.. i was determined to stay until i redeemed myself with a few nice ones.. after a few *eh* rides i was about to call it a day.. then this chunky, A-frame bomb peaked it's darkened head up over the horizon.. i paddled like a mo' fo' to meet it on the outside.. spun just as it was pitching, and somehow made the drop on my forehand... then bottom turned as the beast threw out a thicky barrel over the back of my head and behind me.. i didn't really get barrelled on this wave but i enjoyed the rush of dropping in on an overhead, throwing wave... the feeling of being jettisoned and accelerated forward at board-chattering velocity.. then i rounded off the bottom and powered into the meat of the wave for a full-speed cutback.. then it was raison bran and banana time.. now i'm here at work... remembering..

thanks for the chatter yesterday.. super fun to read the comments from you heads!!!

if you have opinions about whether or not I or anyone else on this board should or should not post the names of potentially sensitive surf spots please speak up!

also have to give a shout out to my Pops.. who is now deep in the land of the single-digit golf handicap... look for him on the senior tour in a few years!

check out this pic of the sunset lineup yesterday.. geez!

oh my god.. check this pic of Snips at Jaws..

e

wow.. lots of surf these last three days.. we'll start with this morning.. Pulled up to VFWs as the dawn began.. uber-glassy sea surface with head-high, barrelling peelers.. Took me all of 2 seconds to decide to get my wettie on and get out there.. Robme pulls up with Mia and he joins me in the lineup.. not too crowded at the south end of VFers.. Spectacular rights cruising in, rising up, throwing out and then just funnelling and peeling along perfectly.. I caught 5 or 6 overhead, meaty rights that seriously felt like pointbreak waves. I've been skating on my longboard a ton these last few months and have considerably refined my weight distribution and general flow when carving through turns.. this practice has DIRECTLY influenced my ability to carve while surfing.. a couple times this morning i rounded through a bottom turn and then just instinctively bent my knees, leaned back and just powered through some full tilt cutties... I'm also started to time my cutbacks better so that i can hold my speed off the bottom... then, instead of immediately ripping into a cutty, i often wait for the opportune smackable lip to present itself, then throw my speed and rail into that lip and turn off it. I saw Robme catch a few nice ones too.. he pulled a stellar round-house cutback into rebound off the foam.. I also witnessed Robme try to take off, backside, inside a thick barrel.. He didn't make it..

it's weird that surfpulse and blakestah both say that it's junky out there.. i guess that, in all fairness the conditions slightly deteriorated from sheet-glass peeling to glassy/slightly-warbled/fun.. some of the waves closed-out, but there were sooo many rippable sections and barrels and oily glass i can't really believe that stormsurf and blakestah were looking at the same OB as i??? weird.. maybe they were looking at the middle of the beach or sloat?? dunno..

On saturday i scored Scott's Creek like i've never seen it before.. the right reef just to the north of the main beach was firing.. only about 10 people out and the rights were grinding and throwing and gesticulating down the reef.. i couldn't believe it!! basically another incredible right point break for santa cruz county.. unreal!!

anyhoo.. anybody else score this morning or this weekend?

e

As the fog rolled in last night and i could smell the end of our offshore nirvana. Sure enough, i cruised down to VFWs this morning and stepped out of my car to feel the cold, biting whip of the 10mph onshore flow coming out of the WSW. Conditions were still marginally doable, but looked to require about 30 duck-dives for every one ride. The outer water surface wasn't all hacked or anything, but the waves were more jumbled and disorganized and the paddle-out looked to be BIATCHY! I saw a few takers getting pounded on the inside, as if OB laughed at them, flicking them back to shore with a jovial, "you surfers will never learn." I pondered paddling out, then i pondered driving to Lindy, then i pondered going for a run, then i pondered getting back in bed, then.. i got back into bed and promptly fell asleep until 8:30..

wooorrrd..

Sunny Garcia won the contest at Haleiwa... which sucks 'cause he's pretty much a prick. and it looks like neither Chris Ward or Shane Beschen will qualify for the WCT.. in fact, looks like the only american to qualify this year will be Tim Curren.. who is a fantastic surfer but is also a whining, goody-goody, Christian, materialistic lamo.. so.. that sucks.. i wish that Gavin Beschen was on the tour, or Rastovich.. someone heady and mellow that i could root for.. I pretty much don't like anyone on tour with the exception of Shea and Cory, and i love Taj's surfing even though his personality is that of an industry-clone. I guess Kelly is my favorite surfer on tour.. but it looks like he's not really hungry for it (he skipped three contests this year)

anyhoo.. maybe there is surf to be found this afternoon as the tide goes out..

Here's a fun left in Costa Rica submitted by Kus (the living legend!)

Can anyone guess this wave?

Thanks to Nepp for the pic

yup.. conditions were *on fire* this morning at VFWs.. and it seemed that everyone knew it, as there were close to 50 people bobbing around the main peak, just south of the Beach Chalet. Jerm and i paddled out in the pre-dawn moonlight and we still weren't the first out there.. Offshore winds raging strait out of the east. overhead bombs flowing in and peeling/barreling/grinding along the sandbars of VFWs.. almost every wave barrelled. From the parking-lot perspective, you'd think that there were heeps of waves out there for everybody, and that you'd surely catch a plethera of all-time rides.. the reality, on the other hand, was that it was tough to position yourself correctly, and, when you did, there would most likely be 4 other's scratching for the same wave.. It took me close to 40 minutes to catch my first wave.. i ended up paddling south, past the main throng of surfers, to some open space near Lincoln.. I dropped into an overhead left that funnelled me along quite nicely.. then i got cranked on the head a good ten times before making it back out.. then i dropped into this bomb of a left, made the pig-dogging air-drop.. then felt the presence of a monster barrel surrounding me... i never really got deep in it.. but i bounced around for a second at the mouth of it.. nothing like a frothing pit to get your heart fluttering and your consciousness uplifted.. I was smiling after that one.. kind-of looking around to see if anyone saw it! nobody did..

got a few more fun ones then all of a sudden it was time to go :( I could have easily surfed another hour or two..

Watching from the lot as we were getting changed out of our suits, Lerm and i probably witness about 6 or 7 successful barrel rides!!! today is definitely the day to call in sick!!

e

pic of OB this morning from Biggsie

watched at Ortega and then VFWs this morning.. Wind moaning and howling offshore, whipping feathered mists off overhead waves that loped into our beloved OB. Ortega (middle of the beach) generally bigger and mostly unridable/jarbled closeouts and such, with the occasional glory section. VFWs much more tame, and definitely doable.. many/most waves closing out.. the wind holding them open but still not always forcing a peel.. Some waves, on the other hand, offerred up luscious, thick, offshore-wind-scalloped sections. Ya had to battle and position yourself for them, but they were out there.. Record-breaking warmth predicted for today, so get your sunscreen and bikini-radar ready.

go get some o' dat shite!

man.. i had the most scrumptious brief-eye-contact/vibe-exchange with an uber-styled mulatto lassie on the L this morning.. kind-of smiled at each other when she boarded in the sunset.. then exchanged brief/energized eye contacts a few times during the ride into town.. then a subtle wave and breath-drawn-smile to each other when she disembarked at Powell.. ahh.. that was nice...

Tom mentioned the annoyance of having to enter your name and email into the comment fields.. I totally agree with that call.. i'll try to get rid of the email and url fields today or tonight.. also note that it's often better to click on the "time", rather than the "comments" link.. takes you to a full page of comments rather than the popup.. it also loads faster..

Caveman.. bummer about that ear infection!! yikes! hope it wasn't due to the water but i have to admit that monday afternoon at Sloat the water seriously smelled like cow manure.. i mean.. REALLY smelled like cow manure.. it was freaky.. anyone else notice that??

e

full-moon dinner and hike last night with Tory.. segue into late-night chillage... segue into 5:30 reveille in Berkeley.. feel the offshores in the brisk, dark, east-bay pre-dawn.. cruise across the bridge and see a few meteors rocket through the sky.. jam home and i'm in the sloat parking lot at 6:12.. just enough light to paddle out and i'm looking at super-glassy head-high barrelling waves. things look relatively mellow from the parking lot, or at least not gruesomely hard-core.. so i suit up and sprint to the waters edge.. start paddling, do a few duck dives and.. DAMN!! there is some power to these waves!! 25 minutes later.. the sun is peaking up.. and i'm STILL PADDLING OUT!!! seriously took me forever to get out there.. but once out.. I stroked into many super-glassy, pitching ground-swell waves.. Waves were flowing in and totally jacking up and throwing out cavernous pits all over the place.. I witness some of the widest, thickest, gnarliest barrels i've ever seen in my life this morning!!! Saw a few throw out wider than they were tall! seriously! Only 5 of us out at Sloat all morning, and three of those were boogies.. where was everybody??? dunno but i wasn't complaining.. I caught mostly rights.. suck-out drops followed by ledgy, racy walls.. i did a few soul-gratifying, thigh-burning cutties.. and managed to avoid any serious poundings..

it's real good out there!! especially if you're a ripper.. big gaping barrels to be had!

i also surfed Sloat yesterday afternoon and caught some super-fun, long-peeling bombies! shit's been good!!

e

No surf for me this morning.. was thinking about jetting to the jetty but wavered then bailed this a.m.. the weather is immaculate out in the sunset.. and the wind is blowing out of the NE.. there is a zero low tide today around 1:15.. so.. you're best bet is the points if your'e lucky enough not to have work this afternoon! It looks like the swell is down a good deal.. soo.. California buoy is at 7ft 11sec.. but the papa buoy is at 15ft 13sec.. soo.. hmm... blakestah predicts some big waves coming later this week.. soo.. Watch out!! I had a huge session at VFWs on Saturday morning, which felt great.. but then bailed on surf yesterday and hiked up the mountain at Montara instead.. I heard through the grapevine that certain SF spots were firing on all cylinders.. grrr.. kinda bummed that i missed that! but.. so it goes.. Supposedly there were a few chargers out at big OB yesterday too.. deaaamn! that's hard-core..

the triple crown of surfing, on the north shore of oahu, is happening right now.. check out triplecrownofsurfing.com for pics, vids and results.

The fact that i missed some quality surf yesterday really irks me and gets under my skin.. There is really not much worse than being a manic surfer and knowing that you missed sick waves at your local spot.. such a feeling of deep emptiness and bottled energy... araghghh!!

anyhoo.. good luck out there.. Shmlindy might be working during the 10:30 high tide this morning..

Also want to mention that there are fantastic views of the SF/Daly City/Pacifica/Montara/Moss Beach/Half Moon Bay/San Gregorio coast lines from atop the mountain in Montara.. You can see all the micro-contours, rock-outcroppings, bends and twists of the various beaches and reefs.. I highly recommend it..

e

E's surf report is down today.. hopefully back up tomorrow..

BUT!! If you haven't already surfed at Ocean Beach today.. Stop
what you're doing RIGHT NOW!! seriously.. stop looking at the monitor..
tell your boss or your girl or your dog that you have the worst diarhea
ever and that you have to go home.. RUN HOME!! grab
your wettie and board
and GET OUT THERE!!!

wind was/is raging offshore..
fun/challenging/barrelling waves cruising in
wave after wave after wave after wave... argghh!! I
basically had to drag
myself out of the water after two hours of blissful
surfing!! Absolutely
gorgeous A-frame peaks rising up and then feathering
and rising and feathering..
then throwing and peeling and beckoning and frickin
INSPIRING!!! Probably the best
session i've had since Indo! best waves maybe.. i had
many many waves that consisted
of a steep, precipitous drop, followed by the sickest
reeling, quarter-pipe-like wall
that just demanded to be carved up.. I had more
practice on frontside cutbacks and
off-the-tops today than almost any day in the past.. I
also snagged a little
front-side barrel!! then came out of the barrel into
this big frontside gauge!
but.. in honesty.. i went too big on the gauge and
ended up falling behind the
section.. man.. but.. seriously!! i have no idea why
i'm at work right now!!
what am i doing!!!! go surf now!!!

e

wind felt good... light offshore.. the sky was clear, the ocean surface looked good from my house.. but.. things weren't really working at OB.. I checked the whole stretch, from Kelly's to 2nd-lot Sloat. The north end of the beach was probably the most approachable.. a few rows of white water and you'd be out in the lineup.. but most waves were closing our or just kinda too jumbled to ride. 1 in 20 waves looked to offer a nice section.. nobody out.. Sloat appeared bigger and was breaking harder.. there were some glorious sections scattered all about.. but you could tell that the current was moving swiftly and to try to remain on any of the peaks would have been folly.. Waves were head-high+ and barrelling severely. If you're a ripper that doesn't mind constantly duck-diving during your session you might be very happy out at Sliz-oat. I saw many spitting pits during the 10 minutes i watched.. nobody out.. I then decided to try Piss-ifica.. saw a few interesting peelers down near sharp park from my highway vantage.. but didn't investigate further.. Rockaway.. nope.. Lindy.. a few smaller waves available between sets but then the set waves doing the classic beach-wide closeout thing.. damn!! no surf for E today.. sucks.. wish that i could cruise the coast looking for waves but.. have to pay my dues at the office so as to afford food/shelter/commodities/etc..

ahh.. to lead the non-working/surf-charging life of our man Tom.. you be lucky man!!

hope you heads have/had better luck than I!

e

a note to E's surf report devotees.. the illustrious suckerfish.net, on which niceness.org is hosted.. is going to be down for the weekend, and also maybe for monday/tuesday.. soo.. maybe no e's surf report for a few days..

peace out y'all!

Based on the fact that i slept in this morning, i'm sure conditions were stupendous at OB.. probably super glassy, just over head-high, long, peeling easy barrels with only a handful of peeps in the water.. Probably dolphins and mermaids leaping and frolicking all around, water temp probably heated up to around 75 degrees. I bet there was a huge, 100-person drum circle on the beach pumping out the native/organic rythms to stoke all the surfers, and most definitely cuties out in the lineup in canoes giving neck and back massages between sets.

but seriously... looks to be junkier today for some reason?? the wind is slightly offshore, and it wasn't too windy last night.. i'm not sure what the reason for the junkiness..

tom.. thanks for the sloat report from yesterday.. i guess OB remained uber-glassy all day long.. woorrdd!

kewl.. back to shwork for me..

e

woke up super early today.. in anticipation of maybe driving to HMB for surf.. decided to check VFWs in the dark around 5:50 and could see nicely peeling swaths of white water even though the sky was pitch black.. soo.. i napped in my car with the heater on for about 20 minutes.. then the sun creeped up and i was out there.. head high, uber-glassy well-shaped waves cruising in.. As i paddled out i pumped my fist at a guy getting shacked on a barrelling, dirty-Indo-like right!! Woohoo!! A bit tough to see the contours of the waves coming in due to the flat light, brown water and total glassy/offshore sea surface.. I waited about 20 minutes for my first ride, then got into a nice flow.. Super enjoyable waves today!! Make the steep drop, then pump carve down the line... Elongated, crouched, powerful, spray-spreading top turns and gouging mid-face cutties were the norm.. Barrels were to be had but i couldn't get into any.. I had a chance on this pitching right but ... just... couldn't... hold... on... and i toppled end over end, looking back at the barrel that i could have been in!! anyhoo.. i caught a few waves today that were probably the best i've had in months..

conditions were much smaller by the time i got out... dunno if it was due to the high tide or quickly diminishing swell??

Lerm made one particularly nice drop on his backside.. nice work lerm..

surfline image of VFWs

crowded at VFWs...

go get some..

e

check this pic of OB from this afternoon!
keep in mind that those peeks are well overhead

Robme and i cruised down to HMB and surfed a random stretch of beach a few miles south of the Jetty.. Redeeming qualities of the session: Sunny, almost glassy, no wind. Shitty qualities of the session: Huge/thumping closeouts, not many rideable waves, serious smack-downs...

Robme scored the wave of the day with a long, winding left that he worked for a while.. I caught a couple little sections and made a few air-drops on my frontside.. I had a few gnarly wipeouts too..

ehh.. at least we caught some waves.. which may be tough in the bay area today.. I'm not even sure what to recommend?? maybe Bolinas or Santa Cruz?

good luck..

pope - i'm pretty sure that you were watching Deadman's yesterday.. or Eagle Point.. but probably Deadman's.. I'm surprised it was breaking, as it usually needs a low tide.. but with such a huge swell, i can see that happening.. only a few guys out too eh? wow! You should file that information away into your personal surf-spot memory banks and utilize it some day in the future to score some uncrowded point-break lefts..

theo - very cool that you were out at the Lane on Sunday.. wasn't that nutty! the picture on E's surf report that sometimes appears in the upper left is actually Robme! so.. that's not me.. he's WAAYYY better looking and more rico-suavy than i'll ever be.. I'm tall and lanky with long hair.. pretty dorky looking.. if you see me in the water i'll probably be all twitchy and spazzy, you'll probably want to say, "Dude! chill out man!".. anyhoo.. yeah.. i ride a green board though, and my wetty is all tattered and falling apart..

e

Super active all saturday.. skate, bike, hike, etc... kind-of dose off at 7:30 reading a mag.. tell myself i'll wake up in time to head out on the town at 9:30.. 10pm rolls around and i wake.. watch Metallica "Cliff em' All" video for about 20 minutes then wake up at 6:15am.. huh! ok.. might as well cruise to Santa Cruz.. get to Pleasure Point around 8am.. Overhead+ bombs cruising in outside of First point.. only about 10 guys out.. the water is all brown and churned and frothed. Squalls of rain on and off. grey, dynamic sky. I contemplate going out but am wary of the bumpy, tumbly sea-surface and also because of the way the waves are breaking.. As the huge groundswell mounds approach 1rst peak they rise and bumble and grow and rise and rise. meanwhile surfers are scratching and clawing and clammering to try to get in to the large/lazy beasts. Finally somebody makes it over the ledge and it's an aired-out big-wave drop down the grand face.. At that point you are very psyched to be that surfer.. Often a long, lined-up penultimate point break wall would open itself to you... swooping bottom turn, looonngg draawwwn ooouuuttt top-turn/cuttie followed by another bottom turn, couple pumps for speed, then another loonngg drawwwnn oouutt top-turn/cuttie.. when i say long and drawn out it's because these waves, being large and powerful but also methodical and slow, offered up a glistening canvas on which to carve.. It was fun to watch but the reality remained that only about 1 ride came through every 4 or 5 minutes, it was very big, and also dark and polluted.. A guy i met in Indo meanders by on his cruiser bike and invites me to breaky.. siiick! we rap for a bit.. his girly's moving out-bumming, the hook has been schweet this summer, Drainpipes on the East side was going off during the south swells, some guy at first point often paddles out and yells at all the longboarder to "move down to O'neils!" Glacier National Park is siiiick, etc..

then i went to the Lane.. Huge and Wild with waves crossing and peeling and going bananas all over middle peak/slot/indicators... Only about 20 or 30 peeps spread around through the whole area.. reason being it was huge and dirty.. Promptly paddled out to indicators and caught some great bombs.. big-wave-feeling drops then chunky point-break walls for a few memorable full-rail cutbacks!! ahhh!!! felt gooood!

then cruised home..

past the Jetty which looked great!!! glassy and head-high..

anyhoo.. Kus and Henessey!! Jersey! I'm planning on getting a few seshies over Christmas.. i'm home from the 20th to the 3rd..

siiickk

e

Out in the raw spray and nautical confusion.. peering through dense fog i see a mammoth set approach.. the red traffic light of Sloat a pinprick in the distance.. the only sign of humanity from my vantage. My 8'6" gun underneath me.. i paddle west toward the approaching set. A cold, energized chill runs up my back as my mind deciphers the actual size of the oncoming beasts. I scrape and will myself over the top of the first macker.. violent bursts of wind and water whipping all around, a violent cacophony of frothed spray rains down on me as the wave passes underneath.. the next wave i see and it's rising and guffawing.. i'm not going to make it over.. I spin and begin to paddle with it.. scratching and scratching and witnessing this morbid pit of dispair open up beneath me.. I'm bouncing and flying along the crest of this wave until i've finally caught it.. I get to my feet and my bones are chattering and spit is flying and the wind is gusting and all is dark and treacherous. I burn down the face of the beast like a little ant riding a humungous locomotive... power into the bottom turn and look up to barely see, way up above me, the lip of the dark, menacing leviathan of a wave throwing way out over my head.. it what seems like slow-motion the huge wave engulfes me and i'm fully within the bowels of the radiant monster.. all noise and impending disaster cancel each other out for a few moments as i sort-of levitate within the biggest barrel of my life, the biggest barrel i could ever imagine! Floating and existing in a definitive now, i take it in.. then, slowly, methodically, my room/womb of existential spirituality closes in around me, shuts me down. I'm struck violently on the back of the head by an unknown assailant and suddenly all is black, for a long time.. then i wake up!! Ha!! it's 6:30am and pouring rain outside.. wind whipping all around, trees down.. hmm.. maybe i'll check the surf..

Woke up this morning around 6:15 and rain and wind were battering my window.. I debated internally for about 2 minutes whether to motor down to the Princeton Jetty to try to get lucky.. but.. promptly fell back to sleep until 8.. D'oh.. I bailed.. but.. maybe it's ok down there.. or even tucked in the southern-edge of Rockaway or Lindy you could find some waves?? I don't think that it's rained hard enough yet to make for polluted conditions.. though.. i'm not sure?

anyone have any first-hand comments?

check out the buoy readings from 46006 (Papa) buoy
Wave Height (WVHT): 41.3 ft
Dominant Wave Period (DPD): 20 sec

daaamn!

things ought to be interesting at the points this afternoon as the sun sets.. hmmm...

e

woke up expecting the storm front to have moved in.. but.. nahh.. calm and gentle in the air at my house on 22nd ave.. hmm.. not quite light yet (6:20).. better get Lerm up because it's probably going to be good.. "Lerm! Get outta bed Biiiaatch!!".. Lerm's up.. we're out the door.. head down the hill to Orschmegma.. walk up to the dunes and look out onto utterly glassy, totally empty head-high plus glorious groundswell breaking way on the outside and just funnelling and peeling along in both directions!!! umm.. YEAH!!! Looked pretty big too.. but we were soo fucking on it.. take a couple on the head then we were out there.. This new swell has some serious girth to it!!! waves very bulky and thick... conditions impeccably pristine in the early morning.. very quiet and still with maybe a breath of offshore wind.. water surface oily glass with thick, classic OB groundswell A-Frames cruising in!!! yeah!!! My first wave might have been my best of the session.. Big (overhead and a half) wall comes marching in from the farallons and i'm paddling west to head it off.. i spin and dig dig dig to get into it, even paddling down the face for a second to get over the ledge.. then i'm in.. i'm up.. i'm racing down the face.. lay down the bottom turn.. then float and glide down the wall of this well overhead, stunningly glassy wave!!! a few pumps and a mellow turn.. kick out the back before it closes out.. and i'm fucking grinning ear to ear.. Jerm seems a little hesitant, as the waves are pretty much the biggest we've seen this season.. but then he gets his flow going on some inside monsters and he's laughing with excitement.. still NOBODY else out for about 30 minutes.. then a kneeboarder and also Alex from Aqua surfshop paddles out.. Alex takes off on this macking left and gets smooshed real good by the barrel of the morning.. Conditions slightly deteriorate as our session wears on.. but still exciting and awesome.. even though the tide was coming up, it seemed that maybe the waves were breaking less on the outside sandbars and more on the inside and so barrelling more and breaking super steep..

basically EPIC conditions this morning.. i either hope that you got some or that you're getting some right now..

i wish i took pics..

sorry for the late report.. we surfed for almost 2.5 hours and then i was late for a work meeting.. Republicans in power!! grr..

e

woke up to some unexpected offshore winds.. but.. offshore winds does not swell create.. and with the absence of swell this morning.. there ain't nothin' goin' on.. HOWEVER!!! Something wicked this way comes!!

north pacific

we're supposed to get slammed by this storm over the next few days.. we should start seeing swell this afternoon.. and if you're lucky enough not to have to work today, you should be able to make good use of the huge -2 low tide this afternoon.. though.. who knows when, specifically we'll start seeing waves, and what the local winds will do?

went to yoga last night and it hooked me.. if you're suffering from a chronically tight surfer's back or can't touch your toes that well you should maybe look into a little yoga.. it has the power to seriously improve your surfing as well as keep you injury free. So much of high-level, technical surfing depends on flexibility.. in order to get into those tight barrels or change directions real quick off the lip, or land the tweaky airs, your body has to be spongy and flexy in order to best absorb and react... some people are born naturally flexible and pliant, while others aren't.. you know who you are. look into some yoga..

also. Kus.. thanks for reminding me about that time on Block Island when i broke my board at Scotch and was flipping out.. yeah.. Ora TOTALLY hooked that shit up.. and.. Mellow Yellow still catches waves to this day.. It's a great board that loves steep drops.. seriously.. Lerm will attest.. Man.. i was sooo pissed that day.. the waves were fun and glassy and we were just starting to be able to actually surf ok.. then i thought the world was ending when i saw the nose of my board dangling off.. grr.. Also.. do you remember Ora telling us about how he used to set the lips of his half-pipe on fire and just skate at night.. with the coping all ablaze!! ha.. that kid was great..

anyhoo.. things aught to get interesting for Bay Area surf over the next few days... hmm...

here are a couple of belated holloween treats for you kiddies!! hwar har haaahhrr!!

proscuitto head

a real bat!! (flying fox)

e

full deterioration at OB.. Small, junky, windy, disorganised uglyness this morning at "the Beach".. I tweaked my back a bit yesterday so wasn't going to go this morning.. then had second thoughts and figured i'd check it.. but.. nah! it's narsty out there.. Great weekend of fun surf though!

We're supposed to see a new WNW swell in the water beginning tuesday afternoon/ Wed. morning.. nothing huge but maybe a bit overhead at OB.. Then the possibility of another more Westerly swell for the weekend.. but we may experience some local low pressure.. bringing wind and maybe rain.. hmm..

Tom.. hilarious antics on the femalian front.. I have to admit having the biggest crush on this blond-haired (usually pig-tailed) shortboarder lassie that generally prowls around Sloat a few times a week.. argghghg.. Bummer to hear about some let-downs in the flirtation department for you.. What's up with the married girly flirting and sending out the signals? weakk.. Just keep at it, my friend.. keep putting it out there and sending out good vibes to the ladies who move you.. Smiles, comfy vibes, warm energies.. you'll be in there my friend!

Marc.. yeah.. i'm thinking of a surf near Kus' house or at the Inlet over Christmas.. i'm going to have to deal with surfing in my 4/3 with 1mil hood rashie underneath.. i think it will be enough for a little session?? I wonder what it would be like to wear my old 4/3 overtop my new 4/3.. seriously decreased mobility but at least i'll avert hypothermia.. hopefully we'll get some shreddable waves and California will be flat for the entire 11 days that i'm home on the East Coast..

anyhoo.. don't know about slurf today?? maybe some protected spot could offer up some longboardable waves?

e

last remnants of the dwindling swell today. Crowded scene up and down OB. Lerm and i surfed Ortega for about 2 hours as the tide came up.. The situation was pretty flat with the exception of 2 or 3 set waves that cruised through every 7 minutes or so. A few of the lefts successfully reared up and funnelled along, offering some enjoyable rides and excruciatingly smackable lips.. I had one ride where i pig-dogged the steep take-off.. then frothed to see a long, tapering wall of wave stretched out ahead of me. I've had the tendency recently to bog my inside rail while doing backside bottom turns but on this wave i was well-balanced and carved through a couple of feel-good bottom-turn/top-turn combos. I performed a few gratifying top-turns and cutbacks today. The kind where you really feel the exertion and opposing pressure of the wave pushing back against your rail and legs and back.. A few times today the experience of that feeling literally sent chills of pleasure through my mind and body.. To be able to press hard through a turn and feel the physical dynamics of the elliptical carve through water. gotta love it..

Yesterday (Saturday) proved pretty all time out at good ol' OB.. Morning session offshore and unbelievably rippable. Caught about 40 rides out at Lawton in almost 3 hours.. then came back and crashed super-hard for 2 hours.. woke up.. puffed.. headed back out to Santiago for a little stony surfing.. Some combination of the ganja coursing through my blood-stream, the fact that i'd already surfed 3 hours that day, and the clean, ground-swelly, head-high, chunky conditions instilled in me a rhythmic, subconcious flow and movement throughout my session... My mental state was relaxed, i didn't feel the usual need to "get as many waves as possible!!".. The outcome of this flowing state was that i basically ripped harder than i ever have before.. On this one right I made the ledgy drop.. then found myself perfectly balanced and ready to pounce.. i immediately rushed up to the lip and laid down this quick, resounding snap off the top that send a big fan of spray out the back.. i was immediately back into the wave and pumping.. looking for the next section to hit.. just shit like that all session. I was Stizz-oked.. then sushi at Ebisu with a cutie named Tory.. some beers and laughs.. it was a good day!

hope y'all are enjoying some fun weekend slurf..

e

check this pic of a coast guard boat at OB.. i got it from surfermag forum

Reflecting on the sage advice of MWSF i opted for VFWs this morning and wasn't dissapointed.. a healthy 4 hours of sleep had me groggy and out-of-sorts this AM.. and i heard the wind howling, in a strange way.. thought the worst of it until i got down to the beach and realized the reason the wind sounded unusual from my house was because of its offshore direction.. Conditions at VFWs were/are pretty damn stellar.. Meaty, head-high peaks rising up and peeling along.. barrels on offer.. waves generally steep and rippable.. sizeable crowd in the water. My first wave of the sesh might have been my best.. a big, chunky left on which i did about 4 top turns and then almost completed a roundhouse cutback at the end.. It was really good out there, and i was bummed to have to end my session to go to work.

I didn't even check the rest of the beach but Lerm said that it was fun but mushy at Sloat..

Looking out over VFWs it definitely seemed that the better shape and cleanliness was toward the north/center of the beach, and conditions got more jumbled and mushy the further south you looked. Probably fun all up and down the beach.. look for the lower tide later for some better shape probably..

anyhoo.. felt good to get some waves!!!!

e