I think we found him
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Would normal people call waking up at 6am and jumping into 55 degree water adventure? Probably not. Well, that's what I've been doing this past week. The swell has come up a bit these past few day. Friday was the cleanest of my 4 day run. Shoulder to head high waves, nice shoulders and damn, I committed to them and got some of the best rides I've had on my 7'6". Well, there was no smaking the lip or vertical slash and turn, but some nice bottom turning, setting up for some top turn back down, only to repeat a few times before being engulfed in the closeouts.
What else was cool about Friday? I learned the power and mystery of the channel. It can cut your paddling time in half, and allow you to conserve your energy to deal with the sets. Just make sure to not sit there when you want a wave. It will just tease you till you turn and paddle only to be deceived by what you think is a breaking wave.
Saturday, the swell came up a bit more, but it was packed and zoo-like. No room to move, no room to paddle, no real take offs. Pending closeouts from the 6ft 15sec swell. I could of escaped else where, but it was utility session day. I went just to get wet, and further more, I got skunked.
Sunday was a whole different story. I took out the log and managed to get almost all the waves I wanted. It was extremely foggy, and the crowd was out in full force as well, but only in certain pockets. I sat where there wasn't too much of a crowd factor and went for those little bumps that none of the shorties cannot take off on. It proved a good strategy because I was able to take off and pull of some nice turning on the log. It was a lot of fun. I think I got a lot of waves before calling it quits!
Today I got lazy. Didn't feel like waking up, although the swell is still around. Tomorrow, must surf, getting itchy...jonesing already...damn it...drop in, bottom turn, top turn, set up for a barrel ride! j/k...tomorrow, more misadventures with the usual delinquents at the beach!
Yesterday, with no real swell hitting, I decided to paddle out with the 7'6" and try my hand at some hotdogging. NOT! Well, at least the hotdogging part. That won't be for a while. I did manage to get more rides than I usually get on this board. Waist to chest high, and jacking up, my first few waves made me smile as I paddled back out to the lineup. I dropped into my first wave right after a longboarder caught the first set wave. Even though I didn't muster much, as the wave petered out, I got a compliment for a nice drop-in. That's never happened before. Sweet! I went for a few more, and even performed some cutbacks; though not too nice looking, but functional. It served its purpose of keeping me on the wave, than spitting me to the ground.
It wasn't too crowded and the winds were kept at bay. Nothing like a waist high, glassy, offshore day. There were a few crowds, but I managed to sit away from them and snag some fun waves. I think I'm beginning to like taking the Ward Coffey out. In fact, I look forward to surfing it now. But when the next swell comes through, I need to take the fish back out. Also, with the small swell coming in this week, I might decide to do some logging, maybe as early as tomorrow morning!
I've had the chance to exclusively surf my 4 fin for a few weeks. Mostly joyous and frustrating times for me. One day, I would get into a few waves and think I'm making the transition. Other days, I'd sit in the wrong spots and blow every wave I went for. But mostly, I was enjoying the denial and achy arms during the paddle out, and blowing most of my duck dives in the process; resulting in being pushed back into the beach.
I made a six day surf run two weeks back before needing to hop on a plane to NYC. Most of those sessions were not memorable. Waves were closing out, or I was sitting with the pack and just didn't get into any waves. Sucks! Me suck!
This past Sunday, I decide to switch it up and take the 7'6" out for a spin. It's been a while, my orange friend. Instantly I noticed a difference on how I surf it. I am not sure if gaining a foot made a difference, but I was able to get waves! Last time I surfed it, I was still falling off it and blowing every wave that came through. Was it the time I spent on the fish that made the difference? We will have to attempt this again to be sure.
I managed to paddle earlier for waves and took off on some closeouts and pulled out on a bunch. I had a really long lefty that I rode like a long board, and took it all the way into the beach. It was packed at the beach, so I made the paddle to the further, less crowded peak. The waves were consistently rolling through and they were in the chest to shoulder high range. I attempted to take off on one, but pulled out because I saw someone taking off towards me. The weird thing was the wave broke and peeled right. He took off and went left. Collision avoided! My last wave was memorable and I've been replaying it in my head for the past two days now: I see a bump approaching and spin to start paddling. I was not quite on the outside, but was in enough position to snag it as the bump built and my board started to glide. I cranked a bottom turn to the right and looked up, and saw that I was right in the curl with plenty of shoulder to play with. The board was speeding along and I cranked a cutback to extract maximum pleasure. Without really looking at where I am, I cranked back towards the right and went for a little bit more before the wave puttered out. That was incredible!