Henri's Surf Journal

I decided to write a short report of each of my sessions. The goals are (i) to bore my non-surfing friends with surf talk; (ii) to entertain my surfing friend with surf talk; (ii) to annoy my friends who've never seen dolphins in the ocean and don't believe me when I say I see them all the time (do a search for the word 'dolphin'); but really, to read this in 20 years and to be brought back to all these sessions.
I learned how to surf in the San Diego area and surfed there 2001-2005. On August 2005 I moved to the island of O`ahu in Hawai`i.

Boards:

Sept 2002 - August 2005: 9' Ellington (see picture here).
May 16 2003 - present: 7'6'' Kies (see picture here).
August 7 2005 - present: 9'2'' Stewart "Colin McPhillips" Performance Noserider (see picture here and above).
May 5 2006 - present: 8'2'' custom-made Garduque (see picture here and here).
August 20 2006 - present: 9'6'' South Coast nose rider.
Number of session reports: 531

2004
   Jan: Fri 16 Mon 19 Thu 22 Fri 23 Sat 24 Thu 29 Fri 30
   Feb: Sun 1 Sun 8 Fri 13 Sat 14 Sun 15 Sat 21 Sat 21 Sun 29
   Mar: Fri 5 Fri 6 Mon 8 Thu 11 Fri 12 Tue 16 Sat 27 Sun 28
   Apr: Sun 4 Tue 6 Thu 8 Fri 9 Sun 11 Thu 22 Sat 24 Sun 25 Fri 30
   May: Sat 1 Sun 2 Tue 4 Thu 6 Fri 7 Fri 7 Sat 8 Sun 9 Tue 10 Fri 14 Fri 14 Sat 15 Sun 16 Tue 18 Thu 20 Fri 21 Sun 23 Sun 23 Thu 27 Sat 29 Sun 30 Mon 31 Mon 31
   June: Wed 2 Thu 3 Fri 4 Fri 4 Sat 5 Sat 5 Tue 8 Wed 9 Fri 11 Fri 11 Sat 12 Sat 12 Fri 18 Sun 20 Tue 22 Thu 24 Fri 25 Fri 25 Sat 26 Sat 26 Sun 27
   July: Fri 2 Sat 3 Fri 9 Sat 10 Sun 11 Thu 15 Thu 15 Fri 16 Fri 16 Sat 17 Fri 30 Sat 31
   September: Sun 5 Thu 9 Fri 10 Fri 10 Thu 16 Fri 17 Fri 17 Sat 18 Thu 23 Fri 24 Fri 24 Sat 25 Sun 26
   October: Fri 1 Fri 1 Sat 2 Fri 8 Sat 9 Sun 10 Mon 11 Tue 12 Wed 13 Fri 15 Sat 16 Sun 31
   November: Fri 5 Sun 14
   December: Thu 16
2005
   Jan: Sat 15 Mon 17 Wed 19 Fri 21 Sat 22 Sun 23 Mon 24 Fri 28 Mon 31
   Feb: Thu 3 Fri 4 Sat 5 Wed 16
   March: Tue 8 Fri 11 Sat 12 Sat 19 Sun 20 Tue 22 Fri 25 Sat 26 Sun 27
   April: Fri 1 Sat 2 Sun 3 Tue 4 Sat 9 Thu 14 Sat 16 Sun 17 Thu 21 Fri 22 Sun 24 Tue 26 Sat 30
   May: Sun 1 Wed 4 Sat 7 Sun 8 Wed 11 Thu 12 Fri 20 Sat 21 Sun 22 Tue 24 Wed 25 Fri 27 Sat 28 Sun 28
   June: Fri 3 Fri 3 Tue 7 Sun 12 Wed 15 Fri 17 Fri 17 Sat 18 Sat 18 Sun 19
   July: Thu 7 Fri 8 Fri 8 Sat 9 Sun 10 Tue 12 Wed 13 Fri 15 Sat 16 Sat 16 Sat 16 Wed 20 Fri 22 Sat 23 Sun 24 Mon 25 Tue 26 Fri 29
   August: Sun 7 Thu 18 Fri 19 Mon 22 Fri 26 Sat 27 Tue 30 Wed 31
   Sept: Thu 1 Mon 5 Thu 8 Sat 10 Sun 11
   Oct: Mon 10 Tues 11 Wed 12 Fri 14 Sat 15 Mon 17 Wed 19 Fri 21 Tue 25 Wed 26 Thu 27 Fri 28 Mon 31
   Nov: Wed 2 Thu 3 Fri 4 Sun 6 Tue 8 Wed 9 Thu 10 Fri 11 Sun 13 Mon 28 Wed 30
   Dec: Thu 1 Wed 7 Thu 8 Fri 9 Thu 15 Fri 16
2006
   Jan: Wed 11 Wed 18 Thu 19 Fri 20 Tue 31
   Feb: Wed 1 Thu 2 Fri 3 Tue 7 Wed 15 Thu 23 Fri 24 Mon 27 Tue 28
   Mar: Wed 1 Fri 3 Mon 6 Fri 10 Mon 13 Wed 15 Fri 17
   May: Thu 11 Thu 18 Fri 19 Sun 21 Mon 22 Tue 23 Tue 30
   June: Fri 2 Sun 4 Mon 5 Tue 6 Wed 7 Fri 9 Sat 10 Sun 11
   August: Mon 14 Wed 16 Thu 17 Tue 22 Wed 23 Thu 24 Fri 25 Mon 28 Tue 29 Wed 30
   Sept: Fri 1 Tue 5 Thu 7 Fri 8 Mon 11 Tue 12 Fri 15 Mon 18 Tue 19 Thu 21 Thu 21 Sun 24 Mon 25 Wed 27
   Oct: Tue 3 Wed 4 Fri 6 Mon 9 Wed 11 Thu 12 Fri 13 Mon 16 Wed 18 Thu 19 Mon 23 Tue 24 Wed 25 Fri 27 Sun 29 Mon 30 Tue 31
   Nov: Wed 1 Fri 3 Tue 14 Wed 15 Thu 16 Fri 17 Sun 19 Wed 22 Tue 28 Wed 29
2007
   Jan: Sun 21 Wed 24 Fri 26 Sat 27 Sun 28 Tue 30 Wed 31
   Feb: Fri 2 Fri 16 Fri 23 Sat 24 Sun 25 Mon 26 Tue 27
   March: Sun 4 Sat 10 Sun 11 Mon 11 Mon 19 Tue 20 Wed 21 Thu 22 Sat 24 Sun 25 Fri 30
   Apr: Sun 1 Fri 6 Mon 9 Tue 10 Wed 11 Thu 12 Sat 13 Thu 19 Fri 20 Sat 21 Sun 22 Fri 27 Mon 30
   May: Tue 1 Thu 3 Sat 5 Sun 6 Mon 7 Thu 17 Fri 18 Sat 19 Sun 20 Mon 21 Wed 23 Thu 24 Sat 26 Sun 27 Wed 30 Thu 31
   June: Fri 1 Sun 3 Mon 4 Tue 5 Thu 7 Sat 9 Tue 12 Wed 13 Thu 14 Sat 16 Sun 17 Thu 21 Sat 23 Sun 24 Sun 24
   August: Sat 4 Thu 9 Sun 12 Sat 18 Sat 18 Tue 21 Wed 22 Thu 23 Fri 24 Fri 24 Sat 25 Sun 26 Tue 28 Tue 28 Wed 29 Thu 30 Thu 30 Fri 31
   September: Sat 1 Mon 3 Wed 5 Fri 7 Sat 8 Sun 9 Tue 11 Thu 13 Thu 13 Fri 14 Sat 15 Sun 16 Thu 20 Sat 22 Sat 29 Sun 30
   October: Thu 11 Thu 18 Sun 21 Tue 23 Wed 24 Thu 25 Sat 27 Sun 28 Tue 30 Wed 31
   November: Thu 1 Fri 2 Sat 3 Mon 5 Wed 7 Thu 8 Fri 9 Sat 10 Fri 16 Sat 17
   December: Tue 11
2008
   January: Fri 11 Sat 12 Mon 14 Tue 15 Fri 18 Sat 19 Sun 20 Mon 21 Tue 22 Tue 22
   February: Sun 3 Wed 6 Thu 7 Wed 13 Thu 14 Fri 15 Thu 22 Sat 23 Sun 24 Mon 25 Tue 26 Wed 27
   March: Sun 2 Sun 9 Tue 11 Tue 11 Wed 12 Thu 20 Fri 21 Sat 22 Sun 23 Mon 24 Tue 25 Tue 25 Wed 26 Wed 26 Thu 27 Mon 31
   April: Tue 1 Wed 2 Sun 6 Fri 11 Sat 12 Sun 20 Mon 21 Fri 25 Sat 26 Sun 26 Tue 29 Wed 30
   May: Thu 1 Fri 2 Sat 3 Sun 11 Mon 12 Tue 13 Thu 15
   August: Tue 5 Thu 7 Fri 8 Sat 9 Sun 17 Mon 18 Tue 19 Sat 23
   Sept: Mon 1 Thu 4 Thu 4 Fri 5 Tue 9 Wed 10 Thu 11 Thu 25 Fri 26 Sat 27 Sun 28 Tue 30
   Oct: Wed 1 Thu 2 Fri 3 Sat 4 Sun 5 Mon 6 Tue 7

Fri Jan 16 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 7AM-9AM, tide going out (6.4ft, 4AM:1ft, 12PM)
with Dario and Brad. Not too crowded (6-7 people).
big. average sets above 6ft, up to 8ft.
not a clean swell at all. very bumpy, gnarly.
The paddle out was really long and arduous, as the supposed channel was closing out at 4-5ft
Caught one way early in the session, made the drop, rode a section and got wiped out by white water. Paddling back out was long. Only wave of the session.
I could have made a drop on a 9 footer, left (the rights were just a wall), but pulled out as it was too steep for me.
Brad said he rode the fastest and most powerful waves of his life. Dario caught only 2 waves.
paddling in was tough as there was a 30 yard impact zone in the channel. Took me about 20 minutes of paddling in, looking back, paddling back out to avoid a big set. Finally saw an opening and paddled in as fast as I could. A big set crashed 5 yards behind me and the white pushed me all the way in. Dario got in by catching the gnarliest wave I've ever seen him ride I think
Spent some time on the cliffs checking out the waves. The conditions were definitely big, scary, and unclean.
Good experience, but not "fun". Definitely good stories to tell though

Mon Jan 19 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 10AM-12PM, tide going out (7ft,7AM:-1.3ft,2PM)
with Dario. Crowded.
Big. some sets in the 9-10ft range.
Got caught on the inside with Dario during a huge set with something like 30 waves. rather ridiculous. the water was all messed up afterwards and we ended up about 100 yards north of the spot.
Some guy, obviously scared, talked to me in the line-up about trying not to die and getting the boards ripped off our hands. Whatever. Feels weird not to be the worst kook out there anymore.
Finally caught a 9 footer way on the outside. My best ride ever. Had to go around one guy on the face. Wish I had been able to generate speed to escape the white toward the end of the ride. wiped out not so far from some guy in the inside, waved at him to check whether he was ok. Only wave of the session.
Paddled right back out to avoid a MASSIVE set. Was 20 yards further outside than everyone else, and made it. everybody got wiped out. Dario got really pummeled, went down deep, with his board dragging him further down! He was a bit shaken after that.
Caught some white in 15 minutes later without much trouble. Got back to the parking lot and checked out waves for a little while.
Good experience, but wishing for smaller sessions now. Feel like charging on 4ft waves.

Thu Jan 22 2004

Mission Beach, 6:30AM-8AM, tide coming in (7.3ft, 9AM)
with Dario and Patrick, only the 3 of us out there.
Waist high with some head high sets, quite a few close outs.
Beautiful morning, but my surfing sucked. Dario says it's normal after a big session.
Could really get my feet far apart enough, but still caught 10+ waves.
Did a pathetic take-off and fall right next to Dario (could have hit him with my board I think). Later Dario almost hit Patrick with his board when they got caught on the inside.
Still, a pretty nice way to start the day.
2 seals.

Fri Jan 23 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 7AM-8:45AM, tide coming in (7ft at 10AM)
with Dario and Brad, only the 3 of us out there.
waist- to head-high, not very consistent.
It was supposed to be a big day and it wasn't. Brad was a bit down in the morning and Dario thought that Subs sucked so bad that we should check another place. We went to check "indicator" and "combs" right down the road, but it wasn't good. We ended up going to subs anyway, and it turned out much better than we though, especially for me given that I was the only one with a long board out there.
Caught a lot of waves, with one good take-off, and one good ride. Still have my feet WAY too close together on take-offs unless they're steep. Really need to fix that.
Got caught on the inside a bit, but nothing bad.
Waves were too mushy for B or D to have a really good time, but they were still having fun.
Decided to get out of the water at the "rope" because the tide was too high. While waiting for a wave in this big wave (7-8 ft) came in while Dario and I were on the inside. I ditched the board and dove, but still was pushed down pretty far. Opened my eyes to see everything black and starting to swim towards the surface. Probably the deepest I've gone while surfing. Not too foamy at the top, so that was good.
Finally caught a lame left-hander in, with a very bad take-off, but at least didn't have to paddle in
Going up that rope is ok with somebody up and somebody down passing the boards up, but on my own, with a long board, no way. One wave came crashing against the cliff and it was a good thing I had grabbed Dario's board just before

Sat Jan 24 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 7AM-8:45AM, tide coming in (6ft at 10:30AM)
with Dario, 6 people in the line-up.
Dario called me in the morning at 6AM and told me to go to MB instead of SC. But when I got there the surf started to get bigger and the weather report was saying that a storm was coming in, so we drove to SC anyway.
In the parking lot we realized that Dario had forgotten his booties (and it was COLD!), had no wax on his board, and that I had forgotten my rashguard. Laughed my ass off as Dario was putting on his wet rashguard. It turned out to be OK without booties, but he had a few slips on his board.
Great waves, but strong wind that made them hard to catch and bumpy, and made the ride rather awkward. Left-handers mushy and not very exciting, great right-handers as we discovered at the end of the session.
Caught about 8 waves. One fantastic right hander (so did Dario), and the rest were mellow left-handers.
Almost dropped in on some guy as I had a very hard time pulling out of the wave, but managed to do it in the end.
Went back to Dario's house for nutella toasts and tea, watching surfers having a good time until the wind picked up. No idea why it wasn't windy here earlier.
3 dolphins in the line-up.

Thu Jan 29 2004

Mission Beach, 7:30-8:30AM, tide going out (1ft at 11AM)
by myself, although Dario was in his house, packing for his 1-year trip to Australia/Bali/Italy
knee- to chest-high
pretty crappy conditions, many close-outs, didn't really have any ride, although I had 2 ok drops. The tide seems a bit all over the place. beautiful morning though.
2 dolphins

Fri Jan 30 2004

Del Mar, 6:30AM-8:30AM, tide going out (0ft at 11AM)
with Travis, and then Geoff and Kate
knee- to head-high.
good conditions, had about 15 rides.
I still have crappy style and have trouble picking up speed on the wave, especially after bottom turns.
On a big wave I think I may have dropped in on somebody, although it wasn't completely clear (I was outside, and I really need to get it into my head that being outside does not mean I have the right of way over people on the inside closer to the break!!). Travis saw the whole thing and he told me that he couldn't tell whether I had actually dropped in, which comforted me. There was so much white I just couldn't see anything while I was dropping. But then I had to do a bottom turn around Geoff, lost all speed in that, he got caught in the white, so was I, and when I emerged from under the water his board was 5 inches from my head. That could've been bad. It was partly his fault because he lost his board on the turtle, but I would also have lost my board on that kind of turtle :) All in all, if I had been able to maintain speed, I would have been ok.
Then on another wave I dropped in on someone, but somewhat on purpose. I had seen him and tried to bail. Sort of managed to bail out, but rather late and not very effectively. When he paddled back out he told me I wasn't supposed to drop in on people, and I apologized. No hard feeling and a good vibe overall (in fact he hooted for me on one of my later take-offs, which I didn't make because I thought he was going!). Still, it made be a bit paranoid for the rest of the session. I really hate it when I drop in on people.
main things to improve: spread feet more (wasn't that bad today); pump + speed on the board; better awareness of others (although it's really getting there)
overall a good session though.
2 dolphins (1 VERY close to me), 1 seal.

Sun Feb 1 2004

San Onofre, Trail 6, 7:30AM-9:00AM, tide going out (5.4ft at 5:30AM)
with Brad and Christina
knee- to shoulder-high.
ok conditions. had about 15 rides.
Drove up from SD at 5:30 in the morning (55 minute drive)
Brad gave me advice about how to improve, and in particular how to practice cross-stepping at the end of the ride.
Talked to him about my "losing speed after turns" problem, and he advises to consciously move my weight forward at the end of the turn. I am thinking that I could at least bend my ankles.
At first couldn't catch much as the wave there is really slow, but finally caught up.
got good rides and tried Brad's monster board, on which I did ok (although turning was a bit challenging).
Some guy would always ditch his board on the take-off as I guess he would freak because the wave was too steep for him (at San Onofre????). He did it several time and once he almost hit Christina as she was paddling out. It was a bit scary.
After the session we went to an organic market to buy vegetables and we had scrambled eggs with tomatoes and bell pepper at their place. Then I drove back down for Jim's baby shower and for Jeff's SuperBowl party.
1 dolphin between the line-up and the beach.

Sun Feb 8 2004

Mission Beach, 11AM-1PM, tide going out (5.5ft at 9:30AM)
Didn't surf for a week because of rain, wind, and Jeff's gall bladder removal
with Brad and Christina
knee- to shoulder-high, a bit windy
Strong south current, had to paddle constantly
We checked out the surf in the morning (with Travis) a Sunset Cliffs and at Mission Beach, but the tide was too high. Went back to my place, Brad and Christina caught some z's while I went to visit Jeff at the Mercy hospital before going back to Mission Beach.
Got quite a few rides, but the waves were rather choppy and difficult to read. Had a few pathetic take-offs on these bumpy waves. I felt that on some waves my skills were ok and that one some others they really sucked.
Had one great ride (according to Brad anyway) on which I did a good turn, and one quite extreme take-off as the tide going out was starting to make the waves hollower
At some point Brad caught a wave way out, did a couple of cut-backs, and this guy took off between him and the peak, way on the inside, while Brad was making a turn rather far off from the peak. The guy then accelerated and got right behind Brad, who never saw him, made a cut back, and barely avoided a collision between the two boards by putting his body in between them (!). Nevertheless he got a pressure ding on the bottom of this yellow single-fin that he treasures quite a bit. The guy was kind of an asshole about it too, sort of implying that Brad had dropped on him when in fact Brad was riding the wave a good 8-9 seconds before that guy ever caught it. After that, Christina got out because she was cold and Brad used her board for 1/2 hour to finish the session. We had a lot of fun during that 1/2 hour and he was able to get the whole thing out of his mind.
Trying to cross-step at the end of rides, but it's so freaking hard. I can see it will happen at some point though.
Spent some time with Charlie in the patio and then went up to Baja Don Bravo for burritos

Fri Feb 13 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 6:30AM-8:30PM, tide going out (0.8ft at 10AM)
with Travis, but he went to Ab.
knee-high to waist-high, with 3 head-high sets, at most 4 people in the line up (around 8 at Ab)
overall a mellow session, caught about 20 rides
was on the inside for 2 of the 3 bigger sets, but managed to catch one of the big ones
Had a few instances in which I was trying to be too aggressive and too far up on the board and couldn't arch my back enough to not sink the nose, but overall pretty good take-offs and rides
still trying the cross-stepping at the end of rides, but it's still really hard
at the end of my session went to Ab and was alone there with Travis for 15 minutes. caught three nice lefts. Travis surf really well on his radical short board, but he's so out of shape right now he's dying. we laughed about that
4 dolphins, 1 seal. On a set, I saw the dolphins surf inside the wave and then jump out about 5ft in the air. It was amazing. On another wave, a dolphin was surfing right next to a longboarder.

Sat Feb 14 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 6:15AM-8:30AM, tide going out (0ft at 11AM)
with Travis
waist-high to head-high, alone for 45 minutes, then 4 people in the line-up, about 8 people when we got out
overall a very good session. waves a bit mushy but some big ones.
amazing sunrise, with the sky+water all pink. The first ride was like a dream.
had about 15 rides
had a very fast left (I don't think I've ever had so much speed on my board), and a great right with a late take-off and a high line
messed up a right by going to far down, losing all my speed at the bottom turn and having it crash on my head. usual thing. I really need to watch out for that. Waste of a perfectly good wave.
A few of the paddles were rather grueling, but not like when it's a big day though
6 dolphins, saw them surf a wave along with a surfer at South garbage. One of them jumped about 5ft in the air and fell on its back.

Sun Feb 15 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 6:40AM-8:30AM, tide going out (0ft at noon)
with Brad and Christina
waist-high to 1ft overhead, up to 6 people in the line-up
waves really hard to catch because the tide was too high, and the waves were really bumpy and not clean.
I caught 2 waves, Brad caught 5 and Christina 6, including the biggest wave she's ever ridden!!
At some point Christina got caught on the inside for about 45 minutes after riding a left! We started getting worried and I caught a left to go check it out, right after Brad. She was ok, just trying to paddle steady without exhausting herself. At that point I decided to get out, but was myself caught on the inside and after trying to paddle south I realized that the current was extremely strong and that getting back to the little beach from where we paddled in would be really hard. So I decided to try to get out at the stairs, about 600 yards north. I started making my way there on land, among rocks, sand, and chasms. Wasn't easy. Had to put my board high up on rocks, then climb down into the water, climb back up on the rocks, and retrieve my board, etc. After 20 minutes I made it to the stairs. Saw a guy with a broken board. Once I got up the stairs I ran with my board all the way up to the parking lot and back to the little beach (about .5 mile), where I met Brad and Christina who had decided that I had paddled in. All in all it wasn't life threatening, and I could always have waited for the tide to drop more, but it was quite intense.
one dead seal on the rocks by the stairs, with its guts spilled out. Gave me even more an "end-of-the-world" feeling at that point.

Sat Feb 21 2004

Mission Beach, 7:30AM-9AM, tide coming in (6.4ft at 9:40AM)
with Krijn and Roland
waist-high, nobody else in the line-up
after spending the night at Charlie's, a mellow session, with not very nice wave. Occasional decent waves every 10 minutes. Got about 5 rides, one of them being pretty good. The tide got too high rather quickly. Roland got a few good ones of course. It was Krijn's first session and he did ok and tried really hard on his 7' egg board.
6 dolphins, pretty close to us, one of them jumped right behind Krijn

Sat Feb 21 2004

Mission Beach, 11AM-12:30AM, tide going out (6.4ft at 9:40AM)
by myself.
after chilling at Charlie's house reading a paper and watching some of Dario's surf videos, decided to go out less two hours after my morning session (see above)
putting on a wet wetsuit is really not that fun
waist-high, nobody else in the line-up but an occasional sponger and a couple of guys who sucked more than me
Pretty laughable conditions. Windy. Choppy. Inconsistent. It started raining as soon as I got in, but I decided to stay in to get some surfing done before the rain caused nasty run-offs for the whole weekend. It sort of felt like the North Sea, and people started paddling in.
Got 7 rides, one of them good. In fact, on that one I actually bent my knees more, and sort of felt the board responding. Bending my knees on the high line, extending them on the low line. Maybe it's watching all those surf video's in Dario's room :)
strong north current. Got out of the water about 1/3 mile north of the house.
10+ dolphins, surfing the waves, jumping down the face of the waves, etc. pretty cool.
dead seal on the beach covered with flies

Sun Feb 29 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Sub, 2:15PM-3:45PM, weird tide, 3ft
by myself. 10 people in the line-up.
really inconsistent wind swell, really difficult to catch and read waves.
got 3 rides, each of them lefts, pretty sketchy take-offs, and then not great rides anyway. One was decent.
For 1/2 hour I didn't catch a wave and felt the 0-ride session coming, and then I caught 3 in 15 minutes.
The rights were much better, but there were 10 kick-ass short borders right on the reef, so I was on my own further north trying to catch lefts on bigger sets, which paid off three times. The shortboarders couldn't really catch many lefts given how difficult it was to take off. There was no way I could have competed with them.
I don't like going surfing on week-ends in the afternoon because of the crowd, but it really was beautiful weather.

Fri Mar 5 2004

Del Mar 7th, 6AM-8AM, tide coming in, (high tide at 8AM, 5.5ft)
with Travis. from 6 to 10 people in the line-up.
rather inconsistent, crossed swells, but a few good sets. smaller sets at 3-4ft, biggest ones at 2ft overhead.
got a fair number of rides, a few very good lefts, a couple of rights.
still messing up a bit by doing my first bottom turn too low and then losing all speed
not bending knees enough.
But somehow I feel that I am now more aware of these problems
there was a guy there riding a hybrid broad who had amazing style. His drops were SO clean. We talked to him and he had lived 15 years in Kauai. Really nice guy. He made the steepest drops an made them look absolutely easy and natural. amazing.
6+ dolphins, 2 of them breaching at the same time pretty high

Fri Mar 6 2004

Mission Beach, 9:20AM-10:30AM, tide going out, (high tide at 8:40AM)
by myself, after spending the night at Charlie's
checked out the surf early in the morning but the tide was too high, on the other hand, when I surfed later it was windy.
very choppy, waist- to chest-high, windy, inconsistent. Overall pretty lame conditions, worse than on Sun Feb 8 2004.
mostly nobody with me in the line-up, although there were quite a few people out. But since the southbound current was quite strong it seemed that they all kept drifting past me while I was really busting my ass to stay in front of the house. I figured, the conditions suck, but at least I'll get a work out.
got about 10 rides, 1 or 2 decent, difficult take offs, too many bumps on the face of the wave. My main motivation was to do it for the work out and for the experience as I was told countless times (Dario, Brad,..) that surfing in crappy condition is a good way to improve.
after 1h I had enough. The whole time there was this guy out who was busting aerial maneuvers one after the other. Completely insane. That really shows that great surfers can really make the most of any conditions.
I can't tell if I am improving or not. I _think_ that I am turning better, or at least making a conscious effort to turn and be more flexible on the board, etc.. But I am not quite sure if it is actually happening. Watching tapes of Nat Young and Joel Tudor in Dario's room is at the same time helpful and depressing.
1 seal, way on the inside. Popped up about 5 yards from me as I was riding a wave. Almost fell as I was startled and had to go around it a bit.

Mon Mar 8 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Sub, 6:00AM-7:30AM, tide coming in, (low tide at 4:00AM, -1ft)
by myself
alone in the line-up for 20 minutes, then 3 guys paddled out.
most sets knee- to waist-high, very mellow
had about 25 rides total, all of them really mellow
did my first cross stepping! The first one wasn't even planned but just came naturally during a ride. pretty weird. The second was planned. Going backwards I didn't cross step but side stepped. But at least it's an improvement. I'll really have to keep at it.
At some point I was paddling out and this guy took off about 20 yards in front of me. He kept turning left and right and came right at me. I kept paddling same direction, same speed, and he turned at the last second, spraying water in my face. It was the weirdest thing as he had so many opportunities to go around me on both sides! The vibe was totally mellow out there, the guy had say "Hi" to me earlier, nobody had been in anybody's line or had dropped in on people and the waves were knee-high! No clue what was up with that. Maybe I am reading too much into it.
On my next-to-last wave this older guy was right next to me and we both paddled for a wave, I couldn't tell if he was going left or right, and waited until the last possible second stood up and then saw that he was going to catch it after all. I managed to bail almost immediately, but he fell on his take-off. I apologized a bit and he was like: "no worries, I fucked it up anyway". It was really an unclear situation and although I didn't keep my eyes off him as I was going for it, I never could tell whether he was going for it or not. I guess in doubt I should have bailed right away... oh well.

Thu Mar 11 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Sub, 6:00AM-7:45AM, tide low (low tide at 6:00AM, 0ft)
with Travis
alone with Travis for 20 minutes, then up to 10 people, and then back down to 4.
most sets at shoulder high, not very consistent but some nice rights and a few nice lefts. Long spells without waves or waves so fat only people with 10' massive longboards were catching them.
Got about 15 rides, including 2 or 3 very good rights that went forever. Somehow, forgot to practice my cross-stepping. I keep saying this, but I just need post-it notes on my board or something.
Still went too low on a couple and lost most of my speed with the white crashing right behind me. It's just a matter of remembering to take off at an angle.
right at the end of the session Travis took off on a wave and I was paddling out about 5-6 yards on the shoulder off from the break, maybe 5-6 yards further inside than him. Somehow, his take-off was really off and he lost balance, had his knee on the board, and when he finally looked up he realized that he was basically going to ram me over. Had he had a normal take-offs (like he did all morning catching more than his share of waves), he would have had plenty of time to go around me, which is what I was expecting. But instead he just came straight at me and hit me. It wasn't too bad. His board when over mine, his fins hit me in the calf and foot. At first I felt there was no damage done at all, but once on the beach we realized that one of his fins actually hit my board and made a small, but potentially harmful ding. There was also a not too good looking ding on the bottom of his board that he definitely has to fix. We're not sure how that happened as my board never flipped over. In fact I hung on to it the whole time. Of course he felt absolutely horrible, etc. I wasn't too worried about the whole thing because my board is getting more and more beat-up anyway and what's one more fix? And also because I could totally have done something like that. Anyway, that was probably the most eventful thing of the morning and we joked that, due to this report, his "ramming speed" behavior was being recorded for eternity. As he said, in a way it's good he did that to me. Had it been a local there he would never dare surf there again!
4+ seals on the outside

Fri Mar 12 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Sub, 5:45AM-7:15AM, tide low (low tide at 6:00AM, 0ft)
by myself
alone for 45 minutes, then one other guy, then 3 others
The people at Ab are just crazy. I got in the water at 5:50 and they are already out there surfing. Ab got quite crowded actually, given that the conditions were not that good.
Conditions were not as good as yesterday (see Fri Mar 11 report). Rather inconsistent, knee- to chest-high, but mostly slightly above waist-high. Got 11 rides total (yes, I counted, somehow)
The session started with two lame lefts, and surprisingly annoying paddles back out. Then for a while I just couldn't figure out where to be. It seemed there were two peaks, but sometimes only one, outside, and then inside. It was really difficult to read the wave and I just picked a spot where I thought I had seen nice rights break, and waited. After 20 minutes hour I was getting a bit annoyed when I had a great 1/2 hour, with 3 great rights and a few lefts.
This older guy showed up right when I was catching one of my best lefts. We talked a bit, about conditions yesterday, about the fact that he had seen a bunch of knee-boarders before, etc. It's funny, whenever I see an old guy on a long board I always assume that he's going to be completely ripping with great style, whereas it turned out that I was much better than him. I caught quite a few good waves while he was really struggling.
3 other guys paddled back out, 2 I had seen before. But that's right when the conditions starting crapping out. Waves got smaller, tide higher, waves would break for a bit and then stop breaking while you were on them. After 20 minutes of that I paddled in.
Today my take-offs were not good. I had to re-adjust my feet on the board almost on all of them. Weird. This had been improving for a while and now I feel that it's regressing. Maybe I've stopped paying attention... need to watch out for that. Practiced cross-stepping a bit, getting a better feel for it, but still long ways to go
On the path met with Randy, that guy I have seen there many times before and in fact he was there yesterday. Really good longboarder, white hair and pony tail, about 45-50 years I would say, really friendly. We talked a bit. I am sure I'll see him out there soon. Today, he surfed Ab, not subs. He said that the "locals" at Ab completely rip and know exactly where to sit. He had trouble competing (if _he_ had trouble, NO way I am ever going there).

Tue Mar 16 2004

Ocean Beach jetty (Dog beach), 6AM-8AM, tide high and dropping (high tide at 5:45AM, 5.8ft)
with Dave Doolin, whom I hadn't seen in 7 years and started surfing up in NoCal and was in SD for a conference.
not crowded (up to 4 people)
rather inconsistent, from knee- to head-high, with a first good 20 minutes, and then long spells with no waves. Started to close out at the end of the session.
caught about 20 rides, all of them rights (since the jetty is to the left). Overall an "ok" session I guess. Dave was stoked because he is used to crappy and cold NoCal conditions.
Got one _very_ good ride on a head-high wave. Sketchy take-off, but made it by holding onto the rail and zipped really fast through the first section. Very long ride too with many cut-backs.
Had a few bad take-offs on which I couldn't make it as the wave tends to jack up quite a bit.
2 seals by the jetty

Sat Mar 27 2004

San Onofre, Trail 1, 7AM-9AM (low tide at 8:30AM, 1ft)
with Brad and Christina
not crowded, quite a few people but spread out. At most 1-2 other people paddling for waves next to me.
very inconsistent mixed swell. Rides were pretty good, but catching the waves required a lot of work.
Got 8 rides (was counting them with Christina), most of them pretty fun.
after the session we played with Mason (the dog) on the beach, throwing a tennis ball and a frisbee. We were joined by 4 other dogs
2 dolphins + 1 small dolphin.

Sun Mar 28 2004

Tamarack, 7AM-9AM (low tide at 10:22AM, 0.8ft)
with Brad and Christina
rather crowded, still pretty inconsistent although there was a good half-hour. Caught about 8-9 rides, all of them very good, but like yesterday it took quite a bit of effort to catch waves
tried some cross-stepping, but not very successfully.
I was doing pretty good though, with better timing than usual for some reason.
When I got out and looked at the line-up I was sort of shocked about how crowded it was.

Sun Apr 4 2004

San Onofre, Trail 6, 6:30AM-8:30AM (high tide at 9:30AM, 5.6ft)
with Christina (Brad's in Baja)
rather inconsistent, with a few big head-high sets. Not very crowded where we were (5 people), but rather crowded a bit South where the break's a bit better
Waves were not easy to get into. Got about 10 rides, including 2-3 very good rides with waves that held their shape.
Christina graciously let me go for a nice wave, after which we had a very long lull without waves. We finally had a small set coming and we both caught a wave in. My last wave was a nice left actually, maybe the most nicely shaped wave of the day.
During this session, somehow, Christina went for the scariest waves, with really impressive take-offs, but not very good rides as the wave would literally explode behind her and swallow her in white water. At the end of one of my nice rides I turned around to see a rather scary wave about to break. Everybody is paddling for their life, and before I can say "Holy shit!" Christina just drops in, zips through the first section and narrowly escapes the white. She was complaining that she didn't have good wave selection abilities today, to which I answered: "pu-leaze".

Tue Apr 6 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Sub, 6:30AM-8AM (low tide at 4:40AM, -0.7ft)
by myself
another session with rather lame conditions. I was alone for most of the session. Two shortboarders paddled out towards the end and they were having a really hard time
the type of conditions that make it really hard to surf: the wave is throwing on the peak, and has virtually no shoulder off the peak. So either you don't catch it, or it's a very sketchy take-off for a so-so ride anyway.
Got about 7 rides, and I must say that one of them was rather excellent. The wave was building up on a real line for once, and as I took off I decided to to right (it really wasn't clear). I was pleased with myself because as I took off I realized that the wave would be sort of a wall and I managed to keep a very high line to make it. So I just zipped really fast through a long first section before I could do a cut back. At that point I realized that 6 months ago I would just have gone straight down, lost speed, and gotten pummeled.
Toward the end of the session it got windy and that did it, I managed to catch a wave in. On the walk back to the car I could see that the conditions were really crapping out and that the two shortboarders were really not having fun at all. Ab and South Garbage looked a bit better of course.

Thu Apr 8 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 6:30AM-8AM (low tide at 6:30AM, -0.8ft)
by myself, nobody out
Sort of the same as Tuesday, but a bit better, especially as the session went on. knee- to chest-high.
caught about 20 rides, but only one of them was actually good.
Really inconsistent and I paddled constantly for the first 45 minutes just to try to position myself. The conditions weren't good, but at least I got a good work out.
Practiced cross-stepping a few times with more or less success, still no luck trying to do it backwards though.
Like on Tuesday the take-offs were not that easy at the waves were throwing a bit, but then the shoulder was very weak.
I caught only one wave that really set up nicely and had a real shoulder to work with.
1 seal. Popped up its head about 5 feet from me, looked at me straight for 20 seconds, and then dove back under. Sort of eerie.

Fri Apr 9 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 6:15AM-8AM (low tide at 7:30AM, -0.6ft)
by myself.
5ft-9ft waves. I could tell it was going to be good because I could see quite a few lines out from the parking lot. The forecast called for bigger conditions, but, as usual, it was smaller for some definition of smaller. The conditions pretty much improved throughout the session and in fact looked really outstanding at South Garbage at 8:30.
alone for 10 minutes, then 2 guys (one sponger), then little by little up to 10. All the other spots were totally crowded. Ab was ridiculous with about 30 people. I checked out Ab from the cliff after my session. 4 guys dropping on every wave, and the wave at Ab is quite something. I saw at least 2 collisions (or close) in 5 minutes.
I paddled out alone, and immediately caught two outstanding rides, one right and one left, both head-high. Got caught in the inside a couple of times but nothing bad (well, ok, 1 year ago I would pretty much have died).
Caught about 10 rides total, with 6 or so of them great. I fell on one steep take-off though. I was kinda pissed because it was on my 3rd wave and I didn't know what was to come.
When all these people paddled out, I decided to try to score some lefts as they were all going for the rights. That ended up being great as only me and that other guy were going for the lefts and we scored. We started talking. Very nice guy. We talked about the fact that all those fools would not get the lefts, that surfing's such a hard sport and that when, like me, you start at 30 years old, it's a big disadvantage, etc.. As we talked we saw this guy (I've seen him before there and he is kind of an asshole) take off basically on this other guys head. There was no way he could go around him and in fact he should just have passed on that wave. But he decided to go anyway and basically surfed over the other guy's board and body! It was unreal and to top it off he sort of bitched at the other guy for being in his line. This is the same guy who once yelled at me: "Are you going LEFT or RIGHT?", when I was on the shoulder on a right-hander, he was to my right, and there were yards and yards of nasty white on my left. Just trying to psyche me out of going right by implying that left's even an option. I had ignored him and gone right. Snaking by intimidation is his kung-fu.
And then, this set came. First wave is about 7ft I think and the guy I was talking to catches it (it's a left of course, and it's only me and him paddling for those). I look at him take off and I turn back to see this bigger wave setting up. Immediately I realize I am in the perfect spot. I turn around paddle and make the drop. Big fucking drop too. I manage to keep a high line somehow (good thing I've been able to do that better in the last 2-3 weeks) and pretty much caught the ride of my life (very long ride too with like 5 cut-backs and extremely fast sections next to the wall but totally holding). After that my legs were shaking, probably due to the adrenaline, fear, excitement, whatever and I couldn't really surf for 20 minutes as I knew I couldn't possibly stand up. The guy I was talking to saw my ride and on the paddle back I said: "WOW... how big was that do you think?". And he said: "clean 9ft face, at least.. I saw you take off and you looked really small out there. But you did good. You surfed it casual and your style wasn't bad at all". I proceeded to hand him a large sum of money.
After that I caught a couple of rides (measly 5ft or so) and paddled in after the second ride. Needless to say I was pretty much stoked all the way back to the car and I think I was grinning the whole time without realizing it because in the parking lot this guy saw me and said: "it was that good, huh?". I was like: "ahem... what? yeah... not as big as the forecast said though".

Sun Apr 11 2004

San Onofre, Trail 6, 9AM-11AM (low tide at 10AM, 0ft)
with Brad, Christina, and Susan
up to 10 people on the break, but a lot of beginners who didn't catch many waves
1ft-3ft waves with maybe a few at 4ft. Very mellow, got windier and windier as the session went on and at the end it was pretty much blown out.
We had a good time, the weather was beautiful. Of course Brad caught more than his share of waves. I tried to practice cross-stepping a bit, but it didn't work out too well. Caught maybe 20 rides, and two of them were actually quite decent with some speed to them.
3 dolphins, right in the line-up, maybe 10 yards from us. One surfed a wave and went right underneath that girl who was paddling out.

Thu Apr 22 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 6AM-7:30AM (low tide at 6AM, -0.2ft)
by myself
alone in the line-up, as far as there was a line-up today, 3ft-6ft.
really bad conditions. Major cross swell (SW and W it seemed) and on-shore wind that started to blow at 6:15 or so. Extremely inconsistent, many bumps on all waves, extremely choppy on the inside, somewhat of a riptide to top it off. And the dreaded "big wave on the horizon" that just goes up and down and never breaks cleanly, breaks for 10 yards, then stops breaking, etc. The only surfable waves had a steep peak and virtually no shoulder to work on. Anyway, among the messiest conditions I've surfed at that spot. Decided to paddle out just for the work out actually.
caught 5 rides, all of them bumpy and thus difficult to stay on the board, just happy to make the drop. One of the rides (a left, somehow the rights weren't working at all) was decent I guess, head-high, pretty long on a very fast wave. I couldn't do much but go straight and absorb the bumps with my legs. Never had a chance to do a cutback but at least it was a long ride.
Back in the parking lot, as I was changing amidst a sea of dogs, a HUGE truck pulled in. Jacked up way high, with exposed shocks, huge tires, driven by this skanky 20-year old girl. As she parked I saw this large sticker on the back window (pretty much covering the entire window, with red letters on a transparent background) that said: "Chevys are like tampons, every pussy needs one". The truck was a Ford. This was the highlight of the morning.

Sat Apr 24 2004

Turn About, 6:15AM-7:50AM (low tide at 6:30AM, 0ft)
with Brad and Christina
about 10 people in the line-up
1ft-3ft, really slow and mellow. We still had a good time, swapped boards, etc...
caught about 6-7 rides, with 1 great one on the best/only wave of the day. Brad was totally jealous. I was just sitting there, and then I saw that wave form, maybe 4.5ft. I did a rather sketchy/late take-off because I so wasn't expecting a wave, but made it and had a great ride. That was 10 minutes into the session, and after that not such wave (or even close) came. Really good and mellow way to start a sunny weekend.
2 dolphins.

Sun Apr 25 2004

Mission Beach, 8:30AM-9:30AM (low tide at 8:00AM, 0ft)
with Jeff and Kathy
Alone for a while, then 5 guys showed up
Horrible conditions. 3ft-6ft. complete close-outs. cross swells
Had a few nasty falls on close-outs. Had basically 2 rides total, with a massive amount of backwash. Pretty much one of the lamest sessions in this journal I'd think.
It was Jeff's first time in the water after 6 years. He had fun in the white water, but ripped his wetsuit's zipper after taking a break and so ended up only surfing 20 minutes.
I saw a baby whale!!! I was in the line up and I saw this huge back come out of the water, all bumpy, maybe 15 feet total, with a weird looking fin, all about 20 yards away from me. I had never seen a whale before. It was moving REALLY slow.
I got breakfast with Jeff after the session and met Nicole. She told me that a great white had been sighted at Sunset Cliffs yesterday! For a minute or so I wondered whether that's what I saw. Especially because the fin seemed a bit odd. But thinking about it I am now pretty much convinced it was a whale. I think I remember all the bumps on the back and the fin looked like a dolphin fin, not like a shark fin.

Fri Apr 30 2004

Del Mar, 7:30AM-9:00AM (high tide at 7:00AM, 5ft)
with Geoff, Suzanne, Nika, and Brad
knee- to shoulder-high, pretty decent conditions but not great. The rights were kind of closing out and the lefts had very little power. But still had tons of fun. Great weather.
Caught about 20 rides. Did pretty good but didn't feel like practicing anything, so just enjoyed the rides. Purled a couple times because I was "leaning" too much. Had maybe 2 very good rides overall.
1 Jelly fish that attached itself to Nika's leash, 1 Seal that was in the line-up all morning, fishing, playing with kelp, quite entertaining.

Sat May 1 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 9:15AM-11:15AM (high tide at 7:40AM, 4.8ft)
by myself, met Sylvia in the water
2 people, then up to 8.
knee- to waist-high, not very good but a few decent waves. improved steadily until the end of the session and then the swell died out. Beautiful weather. Many waves dying halfway through the rides though, which is always annoying.
I feel like I caught a lot of waves today, paddling really hard and leaning pretty well. Definitely caught more than my share of waves. I feel that I am still not a very good surfer, but I catch a lot more waves than, say, 6 month ago.
practiced cross-stepping quite a bit. But still can't do it backward. So I cross-step forward and shuffle backward.
walking out of the water, this guy pointed out to me small sharks right on the shore. I saw 3 of them, about 2-3 feet long, black, swimming maybe 2 feet from my feet on the sandy bottom. The guy borrowed my board to paddle over them and have a better look. I think he said "tiger sharks", but that can't be right.

Sun May 2 2004

Mission Beach, 8:00AM-9:30AM (high tide at 8:20AM, 5ft)
with Jeff
up to 5 people in the line-up
knee- to waist-high, very inconsistent, cross-swells, tide too high as expected.
caught about 10 rides, with one of them ok, the others rather weak
At the end of the session the conditions really crapped out and Jeff and I decided to paddle in. But somehow he got caught in a riptide and when I got to the beach and looked back he was way out there. So I paddled back out and towed him with my leash out of the riptide. And there I was complaining this session hadn't been enough of a work out!

Tue May 4 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 6AM-7:45AM (high tide at 10AM, 4.3ft)
by myself, met Rory on the beach (had seen him before but this time we introduced each other. He's a lawyer and deals with all claims of the surfrider foundation!)
between 2 and 3 people in the line-up
waist- to shoulder-high. Very glassy, but cross swells and not a clean break. Take-offs were a bit sketchy, especially on the rights.
caught about 10 rides. Not of them really good. Completely messed up the best wave of the day (a right) by falling after take-off. Sort of annoying. I feel that I was a bit too tentative and didn't charge it enough.
I had to paddle in as I couldn't catch a wave in (the "last wave" syndrome). As soon as I got out the fog came in and by the time I got to the care it was really thick.
As I paddled out I saw several leopard shark fins at the surface, basically escaping away from my board.

Thu May 6 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 5:45AM-7:00AM (low tide at 5:30AM, -1.5ft)
by myself, nobody out.
knee- to waist-high, with a few shoulder-high sets. Not consistent. At the beginning of the session waves were bigger but with 2 peaks that collided leading to short sections and with weak shoulders. As the tide was coming in waves became a bit smaller, but with nicer shapes and better shoulders.
Caught about 20 rides, 2 of them decent, and the others quite weak. Got caught on the inside twice. I need to get better at not taking my time paddling back, even on a small day. Part of it is physical condition, but part of it is just nonchalance.
Although it was a weak swell, the take-offs were not completely easy, and I can tell that I am now taking off with confidence on waves that would have caused me endless troubles 6 months ago. I am doing the whole "paddle, arch, check it out, pop up quickly" routine a bit better
The tide was SO low that getting in and out was a pain. Got entangled in kelp and weeds, half walking, half wading. So glad there are no sea urchins at Sunset Cliffs.

Fri May 7 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 7:00AM-8:30AM (low tide at 5:50AM, -1.5ft)
with Jeff, 3 other people in the line-up
knee- to waist-high, with a few shoulder-high sets. Consistent and nicely shaped waves for about 45 minutes. Then 2 much bigger sets coming from nowhere, and right after that wind and completely messed up waves
Caught about 15 rides, most of them quite fun. I was surprised because I was expecting worse conditions than yesterday, but the waves had nice lines to them. Did one cross step. Take-offs were really easy. I feel really confident now in this type of conditions.
It was Jeff's 3rd time out and I was a bit concerned that taking him to Sunset Cliffs was a mistake, but he managed to paddle ok, and held it together in the water.
The tide was very low again, and getting in and out was kind of a pain. Jeff cut up his knee a bit on the way out.

Fri May 7 2004

Mission Beach, 7PM-7:45AM (low tide at 17:22AM, 2.2ft)
by myself, 3-4 people in the line-up
really poor conditions, but went out mostly to get wet and see the sunset. waist-high mostly with quit a few close-outs at shoulder-high. very choppy, very difficult to read the waves.
caught about 5 rides, with 2 of then decent given the conditions. in fact my last wave in was the best.
This session was lame surf-wise, but was one of the best atmosphere-wise. I was at Charlie's, just jumped in my wetsuit, paddled out. The view was stunning. Sunset. Two clouds. Reflections on windows all over mount Soledad, pelican flights everywhere. Then the sun set and I caught a wave in. Walked on the beach, chatted with a few random people, some guy playing the guitar, some dude picking up his cell phone and saying "what's up dog?". The total Californian vibe! Then got to Charlie's, started the dinner on the stove, rinsed off in the backyards, all this while watching the swell through the kitchen and the front window. Then I took 10 pictures of Charlie around the house wearing his "I Drink Therefore I am" T-shirt, which is a gift from Dario's. Charlie's going to send him the pictures over to Bali. This place, this house, is absolutely magical. Dario had been telling me this for years, but tonight for the first time I really got it. Now if only the surf conditions at Mission Beach were ever good like they used to be!

Sat May 8 2004

Mission Beach, 9AM-10AM (low tide at 7:23AM, -1.2ft)
by myself, 7 people in the line-up
really poor conditions again, especially at the beginning on the session with a lot of close-outs. Choppy. knee- to waist-high. Conditions improved as the tide filled in with more and more of a ridable shoulder.
Caught about 20 rides, with 2 decent ones overall. The rest were on very sectionny waves, ending up swallowed in white water within a few seconds. Also ate it on about 5 take-offs on close-outs.
Overall, pretty happy with this session because in spite on the conditions I still managed to take off on several waves, keeping a high line, and popping up on the board rather fast.
There were 6-7 guys out there, all friends. I was to the right of them and I kept catching mostly rights and they were positioned for lefts, so I actually never had to pay attention to them on take-offs. It was weird. Some were ok surfers, better than me, on shortboards. Some were really lame, paddling with their bodies way too far back on the boards. But the better surfers among them never gave them advice. What was weird is that they were all close together, shouted the whole time, didn't seem very bright, and would take-off all on the same wave, hitting each other with their boards, etc. That was particularly bad because there were so may close-outs today.I couldn't figure it out. At some point three of them took off. One of them literally landed on the second one and both their boards hit the third one in the head! He was a bit knocked out, but then they whooped and paddled back out. It's terrible to say, but I couldn't help thinking: "Fucking Zonies!". Anyway, it was funny because I was right next to them, caught a LOT of waves compared to them and in between waves I could just sit and enjoy the spectacle offered by those guys.

Sun May 9 2004

San Onofre, Trail 1, 6AM-8:30AM (low tide at 8:30AM, -1ft)
with Brad and Christina, alone in the line-up
chest-high to 2ft-overhead, really mixed-up. Waves impossible to read and very difficult to get into.
Caught about 10 rides. Each of them was a very sketchy take-off, and a fast, bumpy ride. Overall, very happy with this session because I made every take-off and handled big, nasty conditions quite well
The inside was hell. After my first ride it took me 25 minutes to paddle back out. On average I would say about 10 minutes. Got better toward the end. Waves, after waves in the inside, nasty white water, being held down a lot and gasping for air. Probably one of the most physically demanding sessions in a while.
Saw about 20 dolphins. It was amazing. They were in the line-up all morning. They were jumping down the face of waves, sometimes 3 at a time. Playing around, breaching all over the place, up to 5 feet from us. That was truly amazing.

Tue May 10 2004

Mission Beach, 7:30AM-8:30AM (low tide at 9:48AM, -0.4ft)
with Jeff, alone in the line-up
waist- to head-high, really mixed-up swell again.
really hard to paddle out (about 20 minutes). Caught 3 rides total, all of them on semi-close out waves. One of them was almost decent.
Jeff got exhausted after 20 minutes and just stayed on the beach for the major part of the session. It's true that the paddle out was grueling and that the inside was kind of a mess. At the end of the session I took his board out and rode the white a bit. But even the white was not consistent and crossed. I am really thinking of calling it quit on Mission Beach.

Fri May 14 2004

Mission Beach, 7:00AM-8:00AM (high tide at 7:13AM, 4.5ft)
with Jeff, alone in the line-up
ankle- to waist-high, tide too hide and waves hard to catch. completely crapping out by the end of the session
caught 10-15 rides, some in white that sort of reformed. Not good but good practice for wave catching. Jeff couldn't catch much actually.

Fri May 14 2004

Mission Beach, 7PM-7:45PM (high tide at 7:15PM, 4.5ft)
by myself, 3-5 people in the line-up
knee- to waist-high, tide too hide, mixed-up waves, almost impossible to catch, breaking on the outside, then not breaking on the inside.
I paddled out just to get in the water after the long week, and it was quite relaxing to watch the sunset while in the water.
caught 3 rides total, and 2 of them were a bit difficult to pull off actually. I don't think I could have gotten them 6 months ago. It's amazing. No matter how crappy the conditions, you always learn something (at least at my level)
After the session, cooking in Charlie's kitchen, I saw the sun go down in the ocean and, for the first time in my life, I saw the green flash! I can't believe it exists.

Sat May 15 2004

Mission Beach, 12:30AM-1:15PM (high tide at 2:13PM, 0.4ft)
by myself, 5 people in the line-up
knee- to chest-high, choppy, windy, horrible. Got in the water just to get wet.
Caught 3 rides total, did 1 cross-step.
1 dolphin right in the line-up

Sun May 16 2004

Mission Beach, 6PM-7:15PM (high tide at 8:30PM, 6ft)
by myself, 2-5 people in the line-up
waist- to head-high, a bit choppy and windy, but nice sets coming through
First session with my new 7'6'' board. Bought the board this morning with Brad and Christina and then bought a board bag. Realized that my board was too wide for the bag! Returned the bag at 5:30 and got another one (for less money actually). Then I decided to go in the water just to see how this new board paddles. In fact, I didn't have too much trouble paddling, sitting on the board (although I almost tipped over a couple times!), or catching waves. Everything's harder, but I think that adapting to this new board will not be such a huge ordeal.
Caught about 15 rides, with 4 of them or so really fun. Can't wait to surf this board in better conditions with less chop. I can already tell it reacts well under my feet and it's nice to not have to wonder where to be on the board. It's pretty obvious :) I was able to work the wave better, and I can see that there's hope of hitting the lip with that thing. I also was able to make sketchier take-offs. Overall, I am really looking forward to surfing this board. Travis is telling me that in 6 months I'll want a board that under 7'. I am not so sure, but we'll see.

Tue May 18 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Ab, 6:30AM-8:00PM (low tide at 4AM, -0.4ft)
with my 9' board
with Jeff, alone in the line-up
knee- to waist-high at best, a bit windy, inconsistent cross swell. We started at Ab since nobody was there, and ended up drifting to Sub! Was a bit odd.
Caught about 12 rides, which was pretty good given the conditions. Good thing I didn't take my 7'6'' board though.
After a long part of the session without catching any wave, Jeff came on the inside at Subs and caught 3 rides (1 of them with his hands on the board the whole time). It was awesome though, definitely a good first step. At some point this wave was forming in front of him and I said: "Dude!", pointing at the wave. His answer was: "Yeah, I could have gone for that one". I was stunned because the wave was still forming up and in fact he was a bit too much on the inside. So I said: "What? DUDE!!!". Then he realized that he could still get the wave, turned around and started paddling. The wave pretty much broke on him (it was a beyond-late take-off) and he found himself in white, but eventually stood up and caught his first real ride! It reminded me of how I was way back when when I just couldn't judge waves at all.

Thu May 20 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 6:30AM-8:15PM (low tide at 5AM, -0.6ft)
with my 7'6'' board
with Jeff, 3-4 people in the line-up
4ft-7ft, rather inconsistent probably due to the fact that it was a South swell, not breaking very often, but still some good rides to be had.
Started the session at Subs, caught 2 rides initially, then got caught inside for a bit. Finally made it back out to the line-up where I caught 3 rides on 6-7ft waves. One of them was very good, and some kid in the water was hooting as I was taking off because it was quite steep. I really had to grab the rail and pull hard on that one, but then I was able to 2 4-5 cutbacks and the board reacts so much better than my 9ft. I still need to get better at positioning my feet on the board. Too close together.
Jeff got caught on the inside a bit North of Subs, and I saw him get out on the beach. I decided the catch a wave in but that's right when the conditions really started deteriorating and there was a big lull with many fake waves that wouldn't break. Eventually I paddled in right when he was paddling back out to Ab, which was empty. Decided to go there as well
Ab was smaller and not consistent at all. Only one guy out. I've rarely seen Ab with nobody there, and it's probably because the regulars know that it sucks on a South swell. Caught 3 rides there, with one of them on which I took off with my feet SO close together that I almost fell. Really need to get a hang of this. Jeff was happy because he actually stood up twice, while at Sub he had done nothing but struggle in nasty white water. We finally paddled in as it was getting windier and windier.

Fri May 21 2004

Mission Beach, 6PM-7PM (high tide at 11PM, 5.8ft)
with my 7'6'' board
with Krijn for a bit. 5-6 people in the line-up
waist- to head-high, very messy, very difficult to read waves, to get into them, very choppy. The big sets were mushy, mushy, and then suddenly closing out
Caught about 5 rides, none of them really good due to bumps. Had to readjust my feet on all, which is uncool
Fell about 4-5 times on the take-off by standing too straight on my legs and fell backwards. Stuff I used to do when I started surfing on my 9ft. Back to the drawing board.
Krijn paddled out for a bit, but was exhausted right away and got out really soon

Sun May 23 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Ab, 7:30AM-9AM (low tide at 6:25AM, -0.3ft)
with my 9' board.
with Jeff. Alone in the line-up.
As soon as we were on the road and we could see the ocean, Jeff went: "Damn it's flat!!". That place, meaning the first patch of water we can see, is always flat and I've explained that to him many times. But somehow he keeps yelling that when we get there and I totally fall for it and say: "No it's not! Dude, this is the place where it's...always...flat... you're a dick". It pleases him.
Pretty poor conditions, but could've been worse. It's been so bad in the last 3 weeks that my standards are getting lower. knee- to waist-high, with the occasional shoulder-high sets. a bit windy.
Caught 10 rides. Most of them unremarkable. In fact, at the beginning of the session I had said that my goal was to ride 2 waves.
I had one very good ride on this chest-high wave. I did a rather late take-off right on the peak, and somehow made it. Pretty happy about that. Jeff was giving me shit saying: "you know, you're not supposed to take off right at the highest point of the wave".
He caught 4 waves or so and was pretty happy with his session. At the end he was chilling in 2 feet of water, sitting on his board like on a bench. I paddled in and we started talking when he suddenly fell backwards, on the sand underwater, with both legs sticking up in the air. Not the most dignified fall. I laughed my ass off.

Sun May 23 2004

Turn About, 3PM-4:30PM (low tide at 5:15AM, 2.9ft)
with Brad and Christina, about 3-4 people in the line-up
with my 9' board.
knee- to shoulder-high, really choppy and windy.
Caught about 6 rides. When it's that choppy I find it very difficult to catch waves. I end up pearling a lot, and once I am riding a wave I have trouble dealing with all the bumps and trying to be on the best place on the wave. Anyway, it was a good experience and it was good being in the water.
Brad was surfing his new twin fin board, ultra thick. He was having some trouble adapting to it because it was so loose and turns so easily. He was able to catch so many waves though, it was sick. As usual.

Thu May 27 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Ab, 6:30PM-8PM (high tide at 6PM, 4.4ft)
by myself, no single surfer in sight anywhere.
with my 7'6'' board.
knee- to waist-high, barely breaking, really inconsistent. A few slightly bigger sets coming in, but not breaking nicely and I was always on the inside anyway.
Caught 3 rides. One of them rather long, but not graceful, one of them with a decent take-off (with feet reasonably spread apart). The tide was really too high, and although I thought the wind would abate it didn't.
Went in the water just for the hell of it and mostly to watch the sunset and paddle. People watching me paddle out probably thought I was completely insane, but whatever. It was nice to be out on my new board, although toward the end I was a bit tired of the crappy conditions.

Sat May 29 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Ab, 7:30AM-9AM (high tide at 6AM, 4ft)
with Dave Doolin, nobody out for a while, then 3 other people
with my 9' board.
waist- to shoulder-high, windy but not too much and the wind died down somehow, but really disorganized with small periods between waves, crossed swells, a lot of doubles.
Once again crappy conditions. Caught about 12 rides, with 2 or 3 of them decent although there were many bumps on the wave.
A few bigger sets, but I was never in the right spot.

Sun May 30 2004

San Onofre, Trail 6, 8:30AM-11AM (high tide at 7AM, 4ft)
with Dave Doolin and Christina, quite crowded but not much competition for waves as people were nicely spread out.
with my 9' board
knee- to chest-high, glassy, a bit mixed up but nice sets coming through, although quite a few doubles.
first glassy conditions in a very long time, had almost forgotten what it was like. Overall a very nice session which returned my faith in Southern California surfing. Caught 20+ rides, with 5-6 of them really fun. The inside was a bit messy, but paddling back out wasn't hard at all.
3 dolphins in the line-up.

Mon May 31 2004

San Onofre Trail 6, 8:30AM-11AM (high tide at 8AM, 4.2ft)
with Christina, Nika, Rick, and Kathy, very crowded.
with my 9' board
knee- to waist-high, close to glassy, rather infrequent sets and waves difficult to catch due to the high tide.
Caught about 20 rides, many more than the average surfer out there. pretty happy about that.
Kathy stood up on her first wave on her first day out with her 8.5ft board. She caught that wave trying to paddle out. The white water turned her around 180 degree. And then she realized she was riding the wave she stood up for a second.
After a 25 minute lull, a wave came and Christina and I were in the right spot. It was a nice wave too. We took off and both thought we had dropped in on each other. We both bailed after the bottom turn to realize that I had gone right and she had gone left. It was sort of sad although we laughed quite a bit. The two of us are always way too concerned about dropping in on each other.
2 dolphins

Mon May 31 2004

Mission Beach, 6:30PM-7:15PM (high tide at 8PM, 6.7ft)
by myself, between 2 and 4 other people in the line-up
with Dario's 9' board
waist- to chest-high. A bit choppy and windy, but not too horrible.
Caught about 10 rides. 2 of then very decent. I had some trouble adapting to Dario's board I think and pearled a few times. But most annoying was the sunset. I had to squint so hard to see the waves coming that after 1h I had a headache. So I just took a wave in. I feel like I am improving in these lame conditions, and had I taken my board I would have been much better today.

Wed June 2 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Ab, 6:30AM-8AM (low tide at 3:30AM, -1.5ft)
by myself, mostly alone, 2 people for 10 minutes.
with my 9' board
knee- to waist-high, mushy. A bit windy, but not too much. Not very consistent but a few occasional decent waves coming through. Shifting peaks though, so rather difficult to position oneself and I was never in the right spot for the 4-5 bigger waves that came through.
The beginning of the session was really sad and I wondered whether I would catch anything. But towards the middle of the session there was an ok 1/2 hour. Caught maybe 15 rides total, with 2-3 of them pretty fun.
I managed to cross-step forward AND backward 3 times, which is a first. I was really trying to work these waves by making turns and walking the board. Style-wise I probably rode my top waves today (but there were several lame ones as I dug rails in as opposed to make smooth turns).
I also was pretty happy about one take-off on the peak on which I managed to keep a high line by taking off at a sharp angle.
Overall not a great session condition-wise, but one in which I could really tell that I am improving.

Thu June 3 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 6AM-7:30AM (low tide at 4:30AM, -2ft)
with Travis, 6-8 other people out, including this outstanding longboarder I had seen a few times before, ripping beautiful turns and hanging five on every wave.
with my 7'6 board
chest-high, not very consistent and a bit mushy.
Sort of wish I had taken my 9' instead, but it was good to get more practice on the 7'6''. Waves were difficult to read and I had trouble getting into them. I need to get used to taking off more on the peak on this board.
Caught 2 good rides, and in particular my last ride on my way in. I fell on 3 take-offs on which I had made the drop but fell backwards, mostly due to the change from 9' to 7'6''. There were about 3 waves into which I couldn't get because I probably had been a bit too much on the outside and had overestimated my paddling speed. Anyway, this new board takes a lot of getting used to.
Travis caught quite a few waves. He was a bit out of shape and got caught on the inside a couple of times after riding lefts, but had a good session overall.
Saw two big blue herons on the cliff on my way out. Never seen herons at Sunset Cliffs before.

Fri June 4 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 5:45AM-7:45AM (low tide at 5:20AM, -2ft)
by myself, up to 15 other people out.
with my 9' board. From the parking lot it seemed a bit mushy and the waves looked a bit fat, so I opted to go out with my longboard.
waist- to head-high+, glassy, but not very consistent. Got caught on the inside a couple of time, but nothing too bad.
Caught about 10 rides, with 3 of them really good.
On one I did a rather wide bottom turn and almost fell in, but I put my hand in the water to regain my balance. Ended up surfing it all the way in. Also, I was able to kick my board off the back of the waves before they close out much better, with even a backside one.
I fell on 3 late take-offs. In fact, one was on my first attempt of the morning and my immediate though was: "hmmm... should I have taken my short board out?". But no, the long board was definitely the right call today as the waves were pretty fat and shortboarders couldn't catch anything on the outside.
I couldn't catch a wave in and just paddled in. This guy was there with this black lab (there were about 10 dogs on the beach running around), and when he started paddling out his dog just swam behind him. He brought the dog back to the beach. Then he took off again and his dog waited 5 seconds before following him in again. I don't think the guy knew what was hapenning because the dog paddled out really far until the impact zone at Sub (maybe 200 yards away). I am not sure how dogs fare in nasty white water, but I was a bit concerned. Eventually, after being pounded a couple time, the dog started swimming back to shore. It took him forever too as he was noticeably slowing down. I still don't know if the dog just does that every time and his owner's just chosen to ignore it, or what. It was quite a sad scene I thought. When the dog got to shore he was completely exhausted and just plopped down on the wet sand in a completely pathetic heap.

Fri June 4 2004

Mission Beach, 5:30PM-6:30AM (high tide at 11PM, 7.3ft)
by myself, 50 people out, always 4-5 people around me. Met Roland in the water.
with my 7'6'' board.
waist- to overhead high. Pretty steep waves, many close-outs. difficult for me to position myself on those waves.
Managed to catch 3 rides, none on one of the bigger waves. Fell on 2 take-offs on the big waves (fell backward as usual). But a good experience anyway.
2 ducks (the kind with the green neck and head) were swimming in the inside. Sort of random.

Sat June 5 2004

San Onofree, Trail 1, 6:30PM-8:30AM (low tide at 6:15AM, -1.8ft)
with Christina, 30 people out, always 1-2 people around us.
We checked Old Man's in the morning early (after sleeping in the car for 20 minutes while in the line of cars to the parking lot!) but, probably due to the tide, it wasn't working at all (although the San Onofre Pointe seemed decent but was bound to be extremely crowded).
chest- to head-high waves, but rather inconsistent with very long lulls between sets. Waves were also a bit sectionny and peaky, rather difficult to get into.
Caught 4 rides, none of them particularly good but all decent. Got caught inside a couple times but not too bad. In particular on one wave through which I paddled but that grabbed the tail of my board and dragged me in the inside.
On the way out I had drifted quite a bit north and I was right at the level of the rocks. So I paddled north to get to the sand. When I thought I had cleared the rocks I went in but in fact there were still many rocks under the water and I had a hard time getting in. I stubbed my toe a bit and scratched my shin. Must really remember that there are many more rocks that one thinks in that area of Trail 1.
2 dolphins a bit beyond the line-up.

Sat June 5 2004

Turn About, 6:30PM-8PM (low tide at 5PM, 2.4ft)
with Christina, 10 people out, little competition for waves
with my 9' board.
waist- to chest-high, a bit choppy and windy, but no too horrible. A few lulls in between sets, and the conditions got worse as the session went on.
Caught about 6-7 rides, including two great ones.
Paddling out was difficult because of the inordinate amount of kelp in the inside. Both Christina and I got about 5lbs of kelp on our leashes and had a hard time getting out.
On my first wave I was in the perfect spot and the wave was a bit peaky. Somehow I freaked out and ditched the board on the take-off. I could _totally_ have made it! Christina saw me from the inside and laughed her ass off, as probably most of the guys out there. Pretty lame. Luckily on my second wave, which was pretty much identical to the first one, I took off perfectly and had a great long ride.
On one ride I cross-stepped forward on the board and found myself hanging 5 for about 10 yards. First time ever! It sort of just happened naturally and I was totally surprised to be there. This is probably some sort of milestone.
We got out of the water and went to meet Jaime for dinner at a sushi place in Carlsbad.

Tue June 8 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 6:15AM-7:45AM (low tide at 9AM, -0.5ft)
by myself, alone for 45 minutes, then 1 other guy in the line-up.
with my 9' board.
waist-high and a few sets in the chest-high range, not very consistent, but almost glassy in spite of a slight on-shore breeze.
Before I got into the water there was that guy with his dog (a yellow lab) on the shore, and he was having a hard time getting the dog to stay on the beach and not follow him in the water. I offered to hold the dog while he paddled out. So he gave me a dog biscuit and I gave it to the dog to distract him. But then I had to paddle out and the dog was then following me in the water! Luckily I managed to distract him by throwing a stone to the beach and I paddled my ass off to put some distance between me and him. Worked out fine although he seemed quite disappointed in my poor attitude.
Caught about 15 rides, all of them decent and a few quite fun.
Managed to cross-step quite a bit and did a few "fake" hang fives with my front foot not quite up to the nose. I feel that the last session during which I hung five for the first time sort of made me realize that walking the board wasn't that hard after all.
Got quite tired during this session. On my last ride (a long left on which I walked the board reasonably well) I got caught on the inside and it took me maybe 15 minutes of constant paddling to go out. I can't remember ever paddling this slowly. Then I tried to do a late take-off on a steep wave and totally ate it. Decided to catch some white in as I couldn't paddle anymore.

Wed June 9 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs, 6:30AM-8:00AM (low tide at 10AM, -1ft)
with Jeff, alone for 30 minutes, up to 3 other guys in the line-up.
with my 9' board.
waist-high with a few head-high sets, really inconsistent short period wind swell, and windy.
Caught about 6 rides. Surfed the inside at the beginning without realizing it was the inside. Once bigger sets came, it took me a long time to get outside. once there, I caught a few more rides.
On the best wave I went for, head-high, I hit a kelp bed on the drop and fell off. I was pissed.
One of the guys who paddled out looked at the condition and said to me: "Wow. I thought I'd be the only idiot out here. So, which way to you go on these ... things... left? or right?"
Jeff was pretty tired after a 2 week hiatus and he got caught on the inside a few times. Not the best conditions for a "let's get back to surfing" experience.
At the end of the session I caught a decent right with a nice take-off and bottom turn, but then it mushed out right away. Still was a nice feeling on the drop.

Fri June 11 2004

Del Mar, 7:30AM-9AM (high tide at 6AM, 3.8ft)
with Geoff and Suzanne, 3 other people out
with my 9' board.
knee- to head-high, very inconsistent mixed swell, a bit windy and definitely choppy. The inside was not really heavy but still required some effort to paddle out.
Caught about 10 rides, a few of them quite fun with a few fake hang fives. Ate it on 2 or 3 steep take-offs on which I wished I had taken my 7'6''.
2 dolphins in the line-up

Fri June 11 2004

Mission Beach, 6:30PM-7:30PM (high tide at 6:30PM, 5.6ft)
with Jeff and Roland, a couple of people in the line-up
with my 7'6'' board
waist- to head-high, inconsistent and bumpy, but good sets coming in.
Caught about 6 rides total, all of them very bumpy. I fell backwards on 2 or 3 take-offs, still trying to adjust to the new balance on this board.
The inside was heavy and paddling out was a complete bitch. About 15 minutes of efforts, heart pounding once out. Jeff couldn't get out at all and it was even difficult to play in the white water because it just wasn't easy to get out 30 yards. I knew it was bad when Roland told me _he_ got caught inside and couldn't get out!
At least the sunset was beautiful and the dinner at Charlie's with Jeff was good.
2 dolphins briefly jumping down the face of a wave.

Sat June 12 2004

Mission Beach, 7AM-8AM (high tide at 7AM, 3.7ft)
with Roland and Patrick, alone in the line-up
with my 9' board
knee- to shoulder-high, rather inconsistent. Small and mellow at first, and then waves jacking up 1/2h after the tide turned. Shifting peaks made it very difficult to catch waves toward the end of the session. Small offshore breeze.
Caught about 15 rides, some quite fun. Didn't get a chance to practice cross-stepping somehow.
10+ dolphins in the line-up. One popped up 2ft from my board and sort of freaked me out. They were jumping in waves as we surfed them. A couple went right beneath my board as I paddled. Anyway, a total dolphin lovefest.

Sat June 12 2004

Mission Beach, 5:30PM-6:30AM (high tide at 7PM, 5.5ft)
by myself, 3-4 people out
with my 9' board
Waist- to chest-high, Really inconsistent. The outside was really mushy and it was almost impossible to get into waves. Choppy. A lot of doubles. A complete mess.
Caught 2 miserable rides and paddled in. A bunch of shortboarders were ripping on the inside and I sort of got in the way of one guy on my way in because the sun was so bright I couldn't see anything that was going on behind me.

Fri June 18 2004

Del Mar, 7:15AM-8:30AM (low tide at 5:30AM, -0.7ft)
with Charles, met Travis in the water, alone in the line-up
with my 9' board
Very small. No real waves. Just good to me in the water though.
Caught about 7 rides, with the last one almost decent given the conditions. Travis and I swapped boards and he was freaking on my longboard while I couldn't stand on his shortboard (although I could get into waves). It's amazing how paddling on that thing is close to just swimming.
Charles was having a hard time (this was like his 3rd time out), especially trying to sit on the board and balance. But I think he still had a good time going out.

Sun June 20 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Ab, 6:45PM-9:00AM (low tide at 5AM, -0.4ft)
by myself, 3-5 people out
with my 9' board
very small with only the ocasional wais-t or chest-high set, inconsistent, windy in the beginning.
Subs wasn't working at all. Started paddling out to South of Ab as there were already 3 people at Ab and I figured that with such lame conditions there wouldn't be enough waves for all of us. But as I was paddling it became obvious that those guys were total beginners, way too far back on their boards, getting up on both knees, etc. So I decided to go there anyway. Talked to the guys in the water, they were all pretty nice. One of them though was wearing a 4''3 wetsuit, thick booties, and gloves. It was odd. None of them could get up properly on the board, so indeed I had plenty of waves.
Caught about 20 rides, most of them rather lame. I was lucky enough to ride the only good wave of the day pretty much. It was very nice left.
Caught a nice left toward the end as it seemed that bigger sets were coming in. Overall a surprisingly enjoyable session given the outlook from the parking lot when I showed up. I feel that I really made the most of it.

Tue June 22 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Ab, 5:45AM-8:00AM (low tide at 7:15AM, 0ft)
with Travis, 3-7 other people out
with my 7'6'' board
knee- to chest-high sets (not very often though), glassy but not consistent with not much of a face and rather peaky.
Got one nice ride at Ab and then, due to lulls and crowd didn't catch a wave for a long time. I then paddled to new break where only two guys were out. They left just as I got there and I caught one great ride followed by 5 others that were mushy. I then paddled back to Ab, caught one nice wave on the way, and then a couple more.
Pretty happy that I didn't fall once, meaning that many I am getting more used to the board.
Travis was really doing nice backside turns today. Some guy dropped in on him early on and we now all hate him.
One the last wave both Travis and I dropped on that wave (I dropped in on him in an attempt to both catch the same wave out) but I totally ate it.
1 seal 10ft from me at New Break

Thu June 24 2004

Del Mar, 6AM-7:30AM (low tide at 8:46AM, 0.5ft)
with Travis, nobody out
with my 7'6'' board
really small with the occasional knee- to waist-high set coming, glassy.
Caught about 5 rides. 2 were "ok". I am starting to believe that this place doesn't work on a low tide. Somehow it got bigger throughout the session and the little reef we were at made the waves jack up quite a bit. But many waves didn't really have a face and this session still ranks as one of the worst condition-wise.
As the tide was getting lower we started becoming a bit weary of the rocks at the bottom. In fact, at some point I was sitting on my board and when I tried to turn my fin hit the bottom! We started trying to be very careful about where we would try to take off, etc.
Still, I guess it was decent practice for me on my 7'6'' and I really focused on trying to stay low.
After the session, as we walked on the beach, we noticed that there were a bunch of (dead) sea animals trapped in kelp. Tons of lobsters that had clearly been eaten by something, a beached sand shark, crabs, sea anemone, tons of sea shells, jellyfish, etc. As Travis said, it was better than any tide pool he's been to.

Fri June 25 2004

Del Mar, 6:30AM-8:00AM (low tide at 9:32AM, 0.8ft)
with Charles, 3 other guys out
with my 7'6'' board
waist-high, glassy, well organized on the North reef, much better than yesterday, which leads me to believe that this spot just doesn't work at low tide. As the tide dropped the reef started to close out, the waves had less of a face, and it started looking like yesterday.
Caught about 15 rides, 5 of them great, 5 of them pitiful due to my lack of skill on this board. It seems that I had a great beginning of the session, then a horrible spell of bad take-offs, and then again a pretty decent phase. In particular I wasted two great waves because I tried to take off on the peak and just couldn't stand up due to the speed. This brought me back to about 2 years ago when I started getting better on my long board. But I can tell I am improving.
Charles did much better in terms of sitting on the board and he actually stood up for .1 second in the white of a big wave.

Fri June 25 2004

Mission Beach, 7PM-7:45AM (low tide at 11PM, 2.1ft)
by myself, up to 3 other guys in the line-up, but not close
with my 7'6'' board
knee- to chest-high, choppy, with ok sets coming in, a bit mixed up
Caught about 10 rides. None of them really good as the waves were often closing out, but managed to make a few cutbacks.
Most pleasing was that all my take-offs were decent, with some of them on steep waves. I really felt like I was finally getting accustomed to this board. while paddling for each wave I was saying to myself "be aggressive, weight on the front foot, stay low" and somehow it worked.

Sat June 26 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Ab, 7AM-8:45AM (low tide at 9:30AM, 0.5ft)
by myself, up to 10 other people in the line-up. Met Ken, Reed and his son Shaun in the line-up, people I have talked to before.
with my 9' board
After waking up at Charlie's and checking the surf on Mission Beach (small AND closing out), I decided to go to Sunset Cliffs. The swell was knee- to chest-high, with occasional shoulder-high sets. It was very organized and glassy, but not very consistent on the outside with long lulls in between sets. The inside on the other hand was surprisingly fun. Rides were not as long, but take-offs were good.
Caught about 15 rides. 2 of them on the outside on bigger waves, but most of them on the inside. It was amazing that every one was staying on the outside while I was surfing wave after wave by myself. At some point I caught 8 waves in a row, each of them beautiful and so glassy I was blinded by the reflection of the sun on the wave.
It's so easy riding a long board now. Take-offs were no sweat even when I was a bit late. I cross-stepped a bit forward and backward. I made quite a few nice turns too.
One the way out I talked with Ken and I learned that he's been surfing Sunset Cliffs since 1962. We talked a bit about his experiences, which was really interesting.

Sat June 26 2004

Turn About, 6:30PM-7:30PM (high tide at 5:20PM, 5.3ft)
with Brad and Christina, 2-3 people in the line-up next to us
with my 7'6''
knee- to chest-high, really inconsistent, choppy.
Did about 3 take-offs and have only one decent ride, my last one out. Overall a pretty miserable session.

Sun June 27 2004

San Onofre, Trail 1, 7:30AM-9:30AM (low tide at 10:21, 1.2ft)
with Brad, Christina, and Jaime, 2-3 people in the line-up next to us
with Nika's 9'6'' single fin beast, also tried Jaime's high performance nose rider, and Brad's ultra buoyant single-fin short board.
Inconsistent and choppy, a bit windy, but nice sets coming through every now and then
Caught about 20 rides, with 3 of them really fun. Nice take-offs, a few cross-steps forward through fast sections at full speed, pretty long ride too.
Tried Jaime's board and feel like that's the type of board I could buy next
Couldn't do anything at all on Brad's short board. Took off on one wave on my stomach

Fri July 2 2004

Del Mar, 6:30AM-8:30AM (low tide at 4:30AM, -2ft)
with Charles and Geoff, 3-5 other people in the line up
with my 9'
knee- to waist-high, choppy, windy, inconsistent, mixed-up, horrible mess. But, it is true that some sets were coming in every now and then.
After not surfing for a while and not even getting into the water on Tuesday with Travis at 6AM because it looked so bad, I just had to get in the water.
Caught about 15 rides, with 2 of them decent. The take-offs were surprisingly difficult as the waves had a lot of texture, were often almost doubles, and yet jacked up a little bit on the reef. So I was always almost pearling, and then arching back and stepping on the tail on the take-off. Good practice I guess. Did one very good turn, probably the most stylish I've done. I guess it's always an interesting challenge to make the most of the conditions.
Charles was riding his shortboard (a 6'5'', thick, single-fin classic) and is improving when trying to sit on it. We swapped board for a little while.
2 seals on the inside, 1 dolphin way outside

Sat July 3 2004

Sunset Cliffs, New Break and then Ab, 8:30AM-10AM (low tide at 5AM, -2ft)
with Kathy, alone in the line-up
with my 9'
ankle- to waist-high, glassy, extremely inconsistent.
Caught about 8 rides, a couple of them decent, the others on such tiny waves that they hardly qualify as rides. On one wave I did a late take-off, as the waves were still curling up on the reef, and made it at a very sharp angle, which I was pretty happy about.
At the end of the session, while Kathy paddled in, I went to Ab to catch one last wave. I managed to get a decent one that two shortboarders couldn't get into and on which I had cleverly positioned myself closer to the peak than a longboarder on the inside. Rode it all the way in.

Fri July 9 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Subs then Ab, 6:45-8:45AM (low tide at 9:30AM, 1ft)
with Greg, nobody at Sub, 10+ people at Ab
with my 9'
knee- to waist-high, with a few sets at chest-high, glassy, inconsistent.
Caught about 10 rides, a couple of them decent
After checking out Sub we paddled to Ab as Sub wasn't working. As usual decent waves on the inside at Ab. I surfed the inside a bit, then the outside without much luck as there were quite a few good longboarders out there. In particular, there was a very stylish one who was hanging 5 like crazy, and a 15-year-old kid who was the fastest paddler I've ever seen.
It was Greg's first session after one year in Belgium with, obviously, no waves. He was tired, but caught a couple of decent rides. After the session we ended up discussing the notion that he wasn't peeing in his wetsuit. He seemed throughly disgusted at that idea, and even more so when I told him that 99% of surfers do it. I also had to give him a jump as the used car he had bought the day before wouldn't start in the parking lot.

Sat July 10 2004

Mission Beach, 6:45-8AM (low tide at 10:30AM, 1.6ft)
with Kathy, nobody out nearby
with my 9'
knee- to waist-high, with a few sets at chest-high, choppy, inconsistent, mixed-up, sectionny, ugly, many close-outs.
Caught about 10 rides, although I hesitate calling them rides... maybe 10 take-offs would be a better descriptions.
Basically, waves were difficult to select, difficult to get into, and take-offs were sketchy. Right after the take-off you'd be in the white after riding a 5-yard section. I am pretty happy with what I made of the conditions, and I had one ride that was actually quite thrilling, albeit 5 seconds.
Kathy surfed the white on the inside as it's probably better for her and as getting out wasn't all that easy. She's starting to stand up and I actually saw her ride the white for 2 seconds.

Sun July 11 2004

San Onofre, Trail 1, 8:15-9:45AM (low tide at 11:30AM, 2ft)
with Brad and Christina, from 2 to 10 other people out
with my 9'
knee- to waist-high, with a few sets at chest-high, glassy, not very consistent, but still a few nice ride to be had every now and then.
Caught about 10 rides. A couple of them were really good and on one of them I cross-stepped and hung five for 3-4 seconds before side-stepping back.

Thu July 15 2004

Del Mar 15th, 6:30-8:30AM (low tide at 3:30AM, -0.5ft)
with Travis, from 2 to 5 other people out, but no competition
with my 9'
knee- to barely waist-high, glassy, some sets coming, got better as the session progressed and crapped out at the end. A good 20 minutes toward the middle with a few nicely shaped waves.
Caught about 10 rides, some of them ok. Paddling for those waves required a lot of effort, but it was fun actually. Travis managed to catch quite a few waves on his shortboard, but it got more and more difficult for him toward the end.
At some point he positioned himself on the inside so that, although I was paddling for the wave way outside, he was actually closer to the peak than me. sneaky. I magnanimously decided not to drop in on him and let him have it :)
On my next to last ride I paddled like a maniac for a wave, grunting loudly, just as a joke, but found myself standing up on what ended up being my best wave of the day. Did a bit of cross-stepping back and forth on that one.
Overall a fun session, we laughed a lot in the water. It was good to get wet after so many bad days.

Thu July 15 2004

San Onofre, Trail 1, 4:30PM-6:00PM (high tide at 8:50PM, 6.4ft)
with Brad, 2 other people in the line-up, no competition for waves
with my 9'
knee- to waist-high with a few chest-high sets, glassy, well organized, pretty consistent, the best conditions in a long time
Caught about 15 rides, including 3 lefts that went forever. I was forced to ride a few rights on the inside just to get back to my spot on the line-up. Every ride was good. Cross-stepped quite a bit, rode the nose once, still have trouble cross-stepping back. Most waves had some power to them too.
Pretty happy about my paddling power. Somehow in the last week or so I've just become a more powerful paddler, catching waves I wouldn't have caught before. Not sure why.
Brad caught a lot of waves, including a great right. He was surfing his new single-fin 1969 7'6'' board that he spent 10 hours fixing up.
Overall a fantastic session, with a great atmosphere, great waves although a little bit more size wouldn't have hurt, beautiful weather, beautiful water. The true Californian dream.
6 dolphins in the line-up 5 yards from my board to top it off.

Fri July 16 2004

San Onofre, Trail 6, 7:00AM-9:00AM (low tide at 4:12AM, -0.6ft)
with Brad, Christina, and Jaime, 5-10 other people out, nobody close to us in the line-up.
with my 9'
knee- to chest-high, completely glassy, well organized, but without the same fantastic shape as yesterday (although we thought it was going to be better). Bigger waves were closing out, and rides were shorts for the most part, although fun
Caught about 20 rides, didn't do much on them as I was just trying to make sections before the wave would dump.
Managed to snake Jaime twice! It's been a personal challenge of mine as he is known as the snake master. On one wave he snaked me, and I was just happy riding behind him. The wave was so glassy that I could see his reflection in it as we were both riding! I kept making small sections and getting around the white back to the front of the wave where he was cross-stepping like crazy. It was a completely magical moment and we both bailed out of that wave right at the beach going "Duuuuuuuuude, that was such a nice wave!!!!". It was only waist-high but really perfect. Sectionny enough to make it interesting, but not enough that you couldn't get back to the shoulder
I was supposed to surf with Geoff in Del Mar, but totally screwed up my schedule mistaking Thursday for Wednesday. So I had to send him e-mail last night at midnight telling him that I couldn't meet him in the morning. He went with a few other people and they had pretty bad conditions actually. I am adding here that he definitely berated me the following week :)
2 dolphins in the line-up right by Christina

Fri July 16 2004

Mission Beach, 6:45AM-8:00AM (high tide at 10:46AM, 3.9ft)
by myself, 1 other guy in the line-up
on my 9'
ankle- to knee-high, glassy, inconsistent, very sectionny. It was breaking better south of the house, but there were like 20 people there and I didn't feel like bothering. I went out mostly because it was a beautiful sunset.
Caught about 15 rides, 2 of them ok I guess. It was interesting to try to make the most out of such small conditions. Furthermore, surfing such small waves is really difficult and really brings out all technical flaws. A bit frustrating, but it's probably good experience.
Somehow my knees were sore from the rubbing on the board during last 3 sessions. It was difficult for me to stand up actually because it was so painful during take-off. I am wondering if it's not due to my new (and better) paddling technique. Hopefully it wouldn't be that bad tomorrow. I would think that with bigger waves it wouldn't be as bad anyway.
The sunset was amazing, with as usual beautiful reflections on Mount Soledad. No green flash this time.

Sat July 17 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Ab, 6:45AM-8:00AM (low tide at 4:43AM, -0.7ft)
with Kathy, 3 other people in the line-up
on my 9'
ankle- to knee-high, glassy, not very consistent
caught about 10 rides, all of them difficult because the wave had so little power. I find it hard to make turns without falling over and in fact I can't really cross-step when it's that small. I am sure that a good longboarder could do a lot with such waves though.
Kathy hung out on the inside
everybody's expecting this south swell, which is just not coming. People in the line-up were discussing it quite a bit.
By the time I got out quite a few people had paddled out, and from the cliff I could see 9 people in the line-up at Ab. Quite ridiculous given the conditions.

Fri July 30 2004

Mission Beach, 5PM-7PM (high tide at 9PM, 7.7ft)
with Holly, 1-2 people with us in the line-up
on my 7'6''
knee- to waist-high, a bit choppy, not very organized, but a few fun waves to be had
caught about 20 rides, some of them with late take-offs (for my standards). I am really happy with the way I am dealing with my 7'6'', especially after such a long spell without surfing it and after 2 weeks of no surf due to some flu that kept me at home in bed.
Holly was in town for 1 week after 7 months of no surf in France, and she rode my 9'. She caught about 10 rides, including one on her first attempt. Pretty impressive.
At the end of the session we swapped boards and I felt really weird on my 9ft, especially paddling and getting up. Riding felt amazingly easy though.

Sat July 31 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Ab, 6:45AM-8:45AM (low tide at 4:10, -1.8ft)
with Holly, Kathy, and Travis, 5 other people in the line-up, then nobody, then back to 2-3 people.
on my 7'6''
knee- to waist-high (a few waves peaked at chest-high, but the face was really never higher than waist-high), totally glassy, inconsistent but nicely shaped as usual at Ab
Caught about 20 rides, with some of them pretty fun. On one ride I did my first nice S-shaped turn on my 7'6''. It felt really natural actually.
I think we scared people away from the line-up (or more appropriately, annoyed them away). We showed up 4 people. We started catching quite a few waves. At some point some guy dropped in on me (unclear though as he was on a longboard and further outside, while I was on the peak inside). Some guy gave an evil look to Travis. And then Kathy totally got in some guy's way on the inside. The all paddled south and we have Ab to ourselves after that. Kind of cool in an uncool way.
Holly did pretty good again, although she was sore from yesterday (the ever-dreaded rib tenderness).
Kathy almost got caught by a wave that pitched on the reef. She managed to let the board go and to fall back, but I think she got a bit of a scare.

Sun September 5 2004

Sunset Cliffs, Ab and Sub, 3PM-4:30PM (high tide at 2PM, 4.7ft)
by myself, 2-3 people out
on my 7'6''
windy, tide too high, very mushy and close to impossible to catch.
caught about 3 rides, with my last one in close to decent. I paddled out just to get wet after 1 month without surfing. Paddling felt so great, although it was as far from glassy as possible.

Thu September 9 2004

Del Mar 15th, 6:30AM-8:15AM (high tide at 8:30AM, 4ft)
with Travis, 3-4 people out on our break, more crowded elsewhere.
on my 7'6''
glassy, warm, not very consistent, thigh