Spank My Wookie

I finally got in a session more than two hours long. Saturday morning, bright and early, I decide to go hit the local break. But my thought process was to stay as long as I can. The beach was still pretty empty when I got there, but the masses of sun whoring beach goers were about to descend and soak in what is considered a rare Summer day in Northern California. But before that happens, I have my say on where I was going to sit. I decided to bring the log as I thought I would have to compete with people for waves.

It was a little weird to jump on a board so long after riding the egg for a week. The paddling was lighter and the board just glided. I got used to it again after a little bit. The biggest difference between the longboard and the egg as that there was so much more glide as I get into waves. Also, I can glide a bit longer before having to get up. I got a bunch of rides in and they were fun. I didn't attempt any crossstepping or anything like that. Just wanted to get my share of waves and make up for the lack of waves from learning the egg. By noon time, the tide filled in just enough to flatten out any incoming sets. I caught one nice right hander and decided to call it a day. Well, actually, the day just begun.

Around 5, after a nice nap and lunch, I decide to head back out for a second session. This time, I brought with me the egg, since I've warmed up earlier in the morning. The tide was pretty high and I found a spot where I caught some waves. I think I'm starting to get the hang on this board. The turning is so much fun on this. And it can turn on a dime. I still need to work out where to sit. I think I can manage to sit around mid-outside and still be able to get into waves. There were only wind swells to work with during the evening. But I got a few rides before calling it a day.

Sunday, I managed to sneak another session in around 4:00pm. The beach was again packed with sun whoring beach goers. This time, it took me a little longer to look for parking but I jumped in with about an hour of surf intended. It's flattened out a bit more, and more bumpy chop was showing. I managed one good ride before I realized I was just way too tired to attempt any more. I was having trouble getting through about 2 feet of whitewater. I decided to call it quits. My one ride was a right hander where I was able to get a bottom turn in before having the wave peter out on me.

So all in all, I surfed myself out this past weekend. It was a stoked filled weekend, as I got to surf both my boards and had a pleasant time on each one. There's a lot more work I need to do on the egg. I can now get some of the rides I got for, but I am still slipping off the back. Sometimes I sit too deep and don't anticipate getting up fast enough to juice a ride out of it.

I'm finding out I enjoy down the line surfing. I like to crank a bottom turn and then just go up and down on the wave face. Perhaps one day I will try vertical surfing.

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

2 days sucking, 1 day stoked, and then a double session where I sucked both times.
Seems harder than I would have thought; trying to get used to the egg.
Out of position paddles, slotted too deep and got pummeled, not well timed
Some unsucessful duck-diving, though I am able to escape a few of those nasty rouge sets
paddling for 4 foot closeouts, slippery feet that is probably not due to wax.
I want my longboard back, no, wait..can't do that, just yet.
I made a commitment to learn this egg and get into different waves with it.
slowly, my friend, slowly.

Posted by Baldwin at 04:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

On impluse, I picked up a 7'6" Ward Coffey egg. It's a nice looking board, with orange bottom and black pinlines on top. So nice that I can't stop staring at it. I'll show a picture in a bit. Anyhow, the first day I took it out, I was really apprehensive.

All the wrong thoughts were going through my head. What if I don't like it, what if there's too little board for me? What if I can't catch any waves with it? Well, on the first day, all I did was paddle around and get in peoples way. It felt like I was learning to surf all over again.

I stood up on a mushy white water ride and immediately notice a difference in the way the board rode. It's snappier more responsive. Also, if you stand up and are in the wrong spot in the wave, the board will just loose steam.

Took it out again the next day, and I was floundering again. Well, I attempted to get some rides in but the tide was negative and most of the beach was closing out. I called it, let's get acquainted with the board day.

Today, I finally got some rides in. Two, but they were the rides that I am use to. Shoulder rides, probably about waist high, and the first one I dropped into was a long right. I surfed it like I do a longboard; just cruise, but I can feel that there is so much more potential on the board. Cutbacks, top turn, bottom turn, verts!!! hahah...one day. For now, I will bask in the glory of getting to know my new orange friend.

Posted by Baldwin at 09:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

After surfing for about two years, I am still a kook. I think I'll stay this way for the rest of my life. The past two days I've been out, I think I've kooked out in almost every way possible. Sit in the wrong spot, drank salt water, paddle for wind swell peaks that just backed off, no show of aggression, dinky rides, pearls off the nose, step waves that just closeout and me doing the bottom turn to save the rides only to fall backwards right back into the white.

So how much more can I kook out? Apparantly, there's a bunch of stuff I could still do wrong that I don't anymore. Look both ways before committing to a wave, let others take the first one so that the next ones in a set are empty, paddle out to the lineup outside of the surf zone, turtle roll my board, paddle into the white when i see oncoming traffic, identifying the peaks and which way the waves go.

Today, I kooked out big time. Nothing felt right during my session. I was always out of position or someone is going for a wave, or the outside freak set rolls through; forcing everyone to paddle for the outside. Nonetheless, I had rides, but nothing spectaluar. I made up for everything on my last ride. It was a larger set wave that came through. Without hesitation, I spun and paddled for it. Felt the glide, and cranked a turn before getting to the bottom. Twisted a little and got to the top of the wave, then let the board go and played some up and downs. By the end of the ride, I had rejuvienated my stoke meter back to a decent level.

Posted by Baldwin at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Meet up with a surf buddy on saturday and drove the coast
he showed me a bunch of spots and what worked on which swell
some mellow waves, some flipping barrels, some that are sharky
drove to catch some of the south that was supposed to fill in
most places didn't work against the negative tide
hit up S.C. , waited for the swell...looked at a few potential spots
nothing showing...a few takers out at the Lane
Other spots were not working...drove over to the other side of town
hopped in the wettie and paddled out to a smaller spot away from the crowds
some fun rights rolled through as the morning progressed
a few sneaker sets in the waist high range, mellow paddles and mellow rides
sun was out, we just took turns away from the crowds. killer left was not breaking further out

So the surf exploration journey begins
so much potential, so little time
where to begin? a lot of coastline to look into!
which swell to go out in, which swell to just watch from a distance
where will the crowds be? and where will the fun waves be?
look just a little harder than the crowds and will be rewarded
does the surf journey just start now; with so much self discovery ahead
which boards to use? big floaty longboards? short fishy twin-keels for the mushburgers?
single fins to release a whiff of nostalgia, or one of those potato chip for those barrels
thoughts of uncrowded surf; or surf and share the stoke with others.
when will i not kook out? I'll never know.

Posted by Baldwin at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)