Spank My Wookie

I started the weekend out right this time! Went for an early work, evening session. It was quite opposite of what Wednesday had to offer. Chunky, small, knee high wind slop, and onshore breeze all night. The action was was right in front of the Bell this time, and there were a lot of lulls and false alarms. I did get some small waves that I shared with others out there. After one ride, some guy turns and says, "That's it, small and fun!" I got my share and just booked for the night.Saturday, I ventured out from the usual spot. I bumped into 3H on the way out, and he said, "Don't expect anyone to do anything right!". I thought to myself, "That includes me!!!".I moved north to avoid the crowds that have conviened to take advantage of the first sunny weekend of summer. I posted up by the light posts and started going to stuff! Mostly left handers and the peak was shared by people who knew more of what they were doing. I started shuffling a little on the board and was able to find a spot right before the nose where it's the most stable. Interestingly, the board was trimming, and i got a bunch of long rides! I surfed till my arms were almost like noodles. Not quite the noodle I was looking for, but enough.Sunday, made it out to the light post for another session. It was sunny again, and the crowd was on. There were more people out than on Saturday, but there were lots of waves to go around to everyone. I continued to play on the knee high + sets that rolled through. The waves had a little more power and were more frequent than on Saturday. I started to shuffle even more. Today, I was playing on the board more. I went up for the trim spot, then back down to do a little turrning, if needed, and then went back to the trim spot, crouched real low and just cruised! I had a lot of long lefts, that were a lot of fun. I was smiling all the way back out to the lineup. Stoke level was pretty high for the most part. I bumped into 3H again and said a quick hello before I called it a day. It was fun!I am almost to the point where I want to start crosswalking instead of shuffling, but that's another story and I'm sure I'll fall flat on my face when I do.

Posted by Baldwin at 09:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I ran to the beach after work today and caught a glimpse of what might be in store for us in the coming months. Glassy surface, defined peaks and workable shoulder, and OFFSHORE winds! August has been nothing but wind chop and junk and flatness. Surfing the past two weeks was fun, but the wind just sucked! Today, the surface was glassy, and the wind was blowing offshore. I was stoked so I even rushed a little suiting up. There were a bunch of closeout sets coming through as well as some late breakers that I went for. A surf buddy I call HHH gave the old saying, "You guys really missed it, you should of been here yesterday!" Well, not in those words, but close enough. I got a few fun rides; I caught mostly lefts and rode them for a while. I'm still pearling on a bunch of them, but it's weird today because I thought I was far enough back to not fly forward. I think I might need to paddle for them a bit earlier and paddle faster.

Posted by Baldwin at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

flat spell, no ways, broken boards to fix, sunny, airy, but no waves and got none since thursday.

Posted by Baldwin at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Amongst the throngs of people wandering around downtown during lunchtime, a few bleary-eyed tourists shall always stand out in the crowd. They are the ones who are dressed as if San Francisco is sunny and warm during the summer. With cameras in hand, and shorts and sandals on, these brave souls are in for some howling winds that sweep through the downtown corridors. But, can anyone spot a tourist while driving?I was sitting on New Montgomery eating a quick lunch when a silver convertible mustang caught my eye. Sitting inside was an older couple, waiting patiently for the afternoon gridlock to ease up just enough to inch forward and repeat the process again. The wife; I'm assuming; was sitting quietly, absorbing the maze of 4 story building lining the sides of the streets. Now, what really made the red light flash in my head as the guy. He's sitting there in a short sleeve shirt; and smoking a cigar. The cigar gave it away. How often do you walk down a street in SF and find someone puffing on a stogie as; much like how a kid would suck on a lollipop? There are smokers in the city, but I've hardly ever smelled a burning havana doobie being enjoyed.On top of that, the sun roof was up! I've seen people freezing in their convertibles before, but this couple was probably from Texas somewhere, hoping to catch some sun and let the wind blow as the mustang cruises top down through a busy financial district. Wrong, its summer in SF, and nothing is more pleasant than this natural airconditioning wind and fog to keep the city cool; otherwise, I'd have to rent a convertible and ride with the top down.I don't thinks this story makes sense. I'm about to fall asleep as I type this.

Posted by Baldwin at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Amongst the throngs of people wandering around downtown during lunchtime, a few bleary-eyed tourists shall always stand out in the crowd. They are the ones who are dressed as if San Francisco is sunny and warm during the summer. With cameras in hand, and shorts and sandals on, these brave souls are in for some howling winds that sweep through the downtown corridors. But, can anyone spot a tourist while driving?I was sitting on New Montgomery eating a quick lunch when a silver convertible mustang caught my eye. Sitting inside was an older couple, waiting patiently for the afternoon gridlock to ease up just enough to inch forward and repeat the process again. The wife; I'm assuming; was sitting quietly, absorbing the maze of 4 story building lining the sides of the streets. Now, what really made the red light flash in my head as the guy. He's sitting there in a short sleeve shirt; and smoking a cigar. The cigar gave it away. How often do you walk down a street in SF and find someone puffing on a stogie as; much like how a kid would suck on a lollipop? There are smokers in the city, but I've hardly ever smelled a burning havana doobie being enjoyed.On top of that, the sun roof was up! I've seen people freezing in their convertibles before, but this couple was probably from Texas somewhere, hoping to catch some sun and let the wind blow as the mustang cruises top down through a busy financial district. Wrong, its summer in SF, and nothing is more pleasant than this natural airconditioning wind and fog to keep the city cool; otherwise, I'd have to rent a convertible and ride with the top down.I don't thinks this story makes sense. I'm about to fall asleep as I type this.

Posted by Baldwin at 11:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Stupid August; month of nothing but drizzle, fog, wind, more wind, junky surf and more drizzle. It just better be nicer when September rolls around. Quick utility session today amongst the many who were seeking any nugget of surf in this week of flatness. Why did I go? Cuz I got that itch to jump in and wash off. That's it. Some small waves every now and then. Got some fun little lefts all evening. But the wind was up and the air was cold. I read some SoCal blog post complaining that 59 degree water was cold! Man, I wish for that temperature on a daily basis, especially when an upwelling is in effect. Nothing specatular to talk about today. Just some junk that I dipped into.

Posted by Baldwin at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Baldwin at 02:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

more of the same for friday and sunday.windswells on both days. got a small session in on friday after work. fun rights and lefts, junky and chunky wind swells and a lot of sideshore winds blowing everywhere.sunday was the same deal. small waves, some vibes, wind swells, some sideshore winds, must remember to paddle out of peoples way as well!that's it, farily lackluster weekend in LM.

Posted by Baldwin at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

quick recappmany more small windswell waves to ridecaught mucho wavesno one out where i was sittingcatching better lefts than rightsthankful to be out there again3 in a row

Posted by Baldwin at 01:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

multiple rides, down the face, pearl off the front, paddled way too back, made some trim, went left, then went right, went straight towards the shack called Taco Bellmellow vibe, mellow waves, small wind swell setsconstant flow of playful knee high breakerscalm winds, foggy surroundings, but never blowing through the beachstoked rides and more funwatched the sun say goodbye through low hanging clouds

Posted by Baldwin at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It was another one of those typical summer days in the SF area; blue skies downtown, overcast along the coast, foggy and misty and glommy by the beach. Mother nature decided to take a break from producing any oceanic activity. But the playful wind junk stirred up by the onshore winds did kick up just enough action to produce some small peaks for an evening log session.And that was it. Not too much of a crowd to hassle with; enough black suits bobbing along to be comfortable and it was colder than normal. I caught a few fun rides and mostly they were backside lefthanders. I did pearl on a bunch of them, but today I seem to be able to whip the board around a little quicker and get what I wanted. There were more familiar faces strewn across the slimey green water. I wonder what people say about me?

Posted by Baldwin at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Baldwin at 09:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Some of the most intense ukulele playing around:http://www.ukuleledisco.com/jake

Posted by Baldwin at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

nothing really exciting about this day. afternoon paddle out, crumbly lines, wind junk, not too many people out, just a utility sessionsaw some nice drops, and again, forgetting to turn, got hammered a few times on the inside, caught in those zones right before reaching the outside.next week, will try again

Posted by Baldwin at 09:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

stoked to be out on another daystoked to see a calmer ocean sending us frequent peelersstoked to get a bunch of waves, albiet straight shootersstoked to see someone wave after i fall off a wavestoked for the crowd to be spread outstoked for the rides my brother hadstoked for uncrowded parking lotsstoked for a sideshore wind instead of nasty onshores producing chop after chopstoked to pearl only to come up laughing at myselfstoked to see a arch of blue skies and the fog getting rejected from flowing in to cover up the colors of the changing sky as another day ends before my eyesstoked to paddle back to the line up smilingstoked that the water temperature warmed upstoked for finally loving to surf!

Posted by Baldwin at 12:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

small, uncrowded, junky windslop. hard to make out workable waves, got some straight in rides, nothing spectacular. guy on 10'6" killing them all, getting everything. me not fair so well. get some, then wait a while, get a little more...i want a better wave! half way through, lots of foam starts showing up on the beach. smell starts to penetrate as well...

Posted by Baldwin at 03:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

i'm starting to lag on writing in this blog lately. i dunno if it's because i'm tired or just lazy. i'd take the latter, but i think i should force myself to jot down some scribbles so i can look back on it later on. so what did i score in surf land this weekend? small peelers on saturday and some fun stuff sunday. both days i jetted to the beach after a long day digging around my yard and throwing trash away. so a nice afternoon wash off was called for. on saturday, i was kinda off in terms of raking in waves. i got a few at the beginning of the session, but then just forgot to paddle back to the right take off spot. i started to go for waves that didn't break where it was supposed to, so i ended up missing a lot of them. then i was paddling in the wrong spot on the board as well. dooh...missed a bunch. on top of that, i sat with a bunch of better loggers and they just made me look like a complete beginner! I called it a day after about two hours and headed in. from the beach, most of the waves coming through had shoulders and was peeling for quite a while.sunday afternoon session with all the kids on the block. everyone comes out and plays. the more the merrier is what is say most of the time. i got some fun rides during the end of my session out. at first, i got a few fun rides, but then 20 other people were sitting at the same take off spot, and me, not wanting to compete for waves, just hung out a bit and watched and waited. then the crowd just dispersed and only myself and 5 other guys were out there. thats when i started going for some of the set waves coming through. scored a really nice lefty, going backside half of the way, then launched into a full body ride to the beach. scored! turned the board around, paddled back out and got a few more going backside. i got a few more where i negotiated some that was moving back out to the takeoff spot. not much turning on that one, just enough to avoid people.most memorable ride was one i decided to commit to late. backside left turn after the pop up and i am in the curl. small carves and some playful motions with the small 2 foot peeler taking me quite a ways to the left and all the way into the beach. with the white pushing from behind, i did some small shuffling, and surprisingly, the board held and i was able to move back as well. am i brave enough to attempt some crossstepping yet? dunno, let's see after i get a couple of more shoulder rides.

Posted by Baldwin at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)