Latest Surfs...

[Big H]

Went out today...so far this month I've only missed five days....been progressing well and stoked to get out and keep grinding on what I'm working on...small today, waist to head high but nicely shaped and peeling....my bad waves are poor...bad timing, positioning is wrong, out of balance from the time that I take the drop....but my frequency of good waves is gradually increasing as is the standard of what is a good wave....my timing for taking the drop is improving so I have more speed, turning while I stand is smoothing out, I can get a pump in now before I go down the wave and then take a bottom turn followed by a top turn....getting a little better every day and rides are getting longer and longer the faster I can get down the line before the ball catches up....fast wave but I'm getting a little better at it. Insides of my knees and thighs were sore a couple of hours out of the water today.....probably the most dynamic session and best riding that I have had in a session to date....took something around 25 waves today and had a number of nice rides. Going to keep grinding on what I'm working on and will put it to the test next week when the swell is in. Good times!

[HurdyGurdyManOnAWave]

im done with surfing santa monica for the time being. I liked it for its spontaneous, fast break, really good in the morning and decent at sunset, and its just a hop and a skip from my house... tonight were 5-6 ft closeouts... its my local beach, its never crowded and sometimes it can seem like a blessing. other times, you think you've climbed over a 5 foot closeout wave during low tide and the coast is clear, only to find that three paddles/seconds later, youre being pulled backwards, then upside down, and then thrown out/down with the lip. never has that happened to me. it truly was one of the scariest moments ive had in surfing. since it was low-tide, i thought i was going to hit my upper-back/head on the sand, immediately went to cover my head but i was able to get out of the upside down position before it completely went down. i didnt hit the bottom, thank god.

my question is, how do you have fun in this kind of surf? its fun to get thrashed around a bit, if you can bail correctly, but something is bound to go wrong eventually. basically i dodged the larger ground swells, and stuck to the smaller swells, had to set-up quickly for them, but the effort definitely isnt worth the ride.

should i just not even bother when the conditions are like this? it was good all summer, i tell ya! i'm fine though, just another scrape to my elbow... (one of many, skateboarding causes most of em)

[oldmansurfer]

I go out when I have time regardless of the surf. I do carefully pick the place among the numerous peaks that are present within the area I surf. Maybe it's just me but I try to never pick closeouts. Perhaps I might go out in an area where 9 out of 10 waves closeout but I try to ride that 1 in 10 wave that doesn't close out. On a wave that closes out if you go to one end or the other you can generally take a drop, bottom turn, and cutout. There are many skills in surfing including how to paddle out through surf how to read the waves and know where to be. But how to have fun is entirely up to you.

[HurdyGurdyManOnAWave]

i had fun, i saw two other guys on shortboards dropping into these close outs and turning in, is it really all that bad when you get in there? the beach is really shifty waves are constantly changing, very small shoulders where the closeouts are, and sometimes they crash together, but i admit, i should walk down the coast a bit and examine the conditions in other areas. i was just so anxious to get out. but there were was a decent swell coming in in between, just really difficult to get set up on time while avoiding all the big sets. -next time i go to that beach, im going to walk along the beach for a bit, spend more time examining the break. i should probably just start heading up to malibu... its only about a 14 mile difference. but the crowds can get bad. i also go to sunset, but that too can get pretty boring, huge lulls between waves and sets.

[HurdyGurdyManOnAWave]

oh, yeah some guy walked up with a wavestorm, i nodded to him, he totally vibed me... he stood there watching the ocean, doing some weird ritual where he crossed his wrists? so i thought he had some ancient surfing secret intuition. so i watched and waited to see him rip it up, he went out, sat on his wavestorm for a little bit paddled and then came back in... pretty sure he caught absolutely nothing. done with that beach for a while! i just enjoyed how spontaneous the breaks could be.

i also stepped on something while in the water. really hope i didnt kill it.

[dtc]

You got 'thrown over the falls' - basically the water going up the face of the wave caught you and you went with the water. Up and over. Its definitely harder in steep fast breaking waves ie low tide. What you need to do is paddle an extra paddle or two to 'break the lip' (of the wave) and also paddle extra fast and pop up extra fast (its easier to suggest googling 'break the lip' than try to explain it - even then its a bit confusing, but basically it means not being caught in the lip but getting yourself below the lip - harder on steeper waves)

Low tide waves can be a real pain, over the falls, over the back etc - they are just faster and harder to catch.

If you youtube 'going over the falls' you will find some 'great' wipeouts.

It happens to everyone. The key is to make sure you aren't surfing in 1 ft of water. And learning/remembering to fall flat (or, if desparate, put your arms out and let your arms take the impact). It can be scary, although the lip actually protects you a little bit because its landing where you are landing and adding a bit of extra water.

[Big H]

My worst wipeout to date I got thrown over the falls after only starting a couple of months before....two gaping rail dings, cut foot and knees, cuts on my face and the panicky bewilderment of being actually tossed end over end through the air, skipping like a rock across the water then getting buried by the wave and rolled 8 times (I counted) across the ocean floor getting cut up in the process....the whole time thinking "I wish I had taken a breath". Scary stuff when you haven't had it happen before and aren't sure what is going on and when it will end.

[Big H]

Kuta today....4-6ft with good shape....not as crowded as you would think it would be....sat on the local peak and we took turns and it was pretty orderly unlike the carnage up the beach with 5 on a wave going left right and straight. Caught 20 something waves again today....exc plenty practice and I managed to replicate the drop to bottom turn to top turn floater re entry about 5 more times today....getting a feel for using the arms more but it's stillearly days; that's one of my he things I'll be grinding on now......sore inside of knees again, a good sign. Did something I hadn't done before today....I've been doing drop wallet turns to get down the line for some time, but today I was firing down the line yo yo trimming top to bottom to top building speed the I sa the wave was going to close so I did like the videos and crouched down, put more weight on my back foot, looked at the top of the wave where I wanted to go and then reached out for the water....first aggressive bottom turn besides the one just following the drop that I've ever done....threw arms up in the air and di a lazy top turn that turned into a floater.....starting to feel like a surfer now.....I like Kuta because while it isn't the best wave around it has shape and power, sandy bottom and decent waves can be had between sets which means for the active you don't really stop longer than a couple of minutes as most of the lineup is well outside waiting on the very biggest waves (and not wanting to be caught inside). Half the time the only thing I enter in my surfing log app in the notes section after surfing Kuta is "reps". Good times!

[HurdyGurdyManOnAWave]

You got 'thrown over the falls' - basically the water going up the face of the wave caught you and you went with the water. Up and over. Its definitely harder in steep fast breaking waves ie low tide. What you need to do is paddle an extra paddle or two to 'break the lip' (of the wave) and also paddle extra fast and pop up extra fast (its easier to suggest googling 'break the lip' than try to explain it - even then its a bit confusing, but basically it means not being caught in the lip but getting yourself below the lip - harder on steeper waves)

Low tide waves can be a real pain, over the falls, over the back etc - they are just faster and harder to catch.

If you youtube 'going over the falls' you will find some 'great' wipeouts.

It happens to everyone. The key is to make sure you aren't surfing in 1 ft of water. And learning/remembering to fall flat (or, if desparate, put your arms out and let your arms take the impact). It can be scary, although the lip actually protects you a little bit because its landing where you are landing and adding a bit of extra water.

---------------------------------

haha, i know what you're saying... ive had plenty of those, but i was paddling over the wave, going past it to get to the line-up. i thought I had passed it and there was a long period after i got over before l I was finally being dragged backwards and upside down. -sort of like swimming upstream.

you get what i'm saying? it was so strange, i'm even thinking maybe another surfer was having some fun at my expense and pulled my leash while the wave was crashing?... i dont know. it seems the worst falls are the ones that you never expect. at least when you know something could go wrong, you have the ability to plan an escape route.

[Big H]

......and now you know. Don't dally through the impact/break zone....experience comes in lots of guises.

[oldmansurfer]

I have never had the type of wipeout that bigH talks about from yesterday but I did get a gopro and took it out today to see how it would work in shorebreak closeouts (helmet mounted) Here is my first attempt at it. Think I need to face the camera more up. This should have shown a shoredumpcloseout but the camera went underwater before you can see the wave

[Jester]

So I may have been gone a few months but have returned to chase down the watery green dragons! Went out today, first time in too long. Took the trusty 8'4 in clean 2-3ft waves. Caught the very first one sweet and had a 20 second ride, continued like that for best part of three and a half hrs. Really good waves..

Good to see everyone one here's still going strong Gosh I've missed this surfing malarkey.

[jaffa1949]

My Guinness you've been away so long , welcome back and ged inta it! Enjoy the salt water dream!

[Tudeo]

I did get a gopro and took it out today to see how it would work in shorebreak closeouts (helmet mounted) Here is my first attempt at it.

Great going OMS, nice clean conditions btw. Keep the videos coming!

[Big H]

So it's here....winds are all over the place today, surf report 3h breakdown has the wind in a different direction for the entire day....means one thing, rainy season is upon us. Hasn't had that first big downpour yet, but it's coming......was at a birthday party for one of the classmates of my girls and was talking to another surfer daddy who swears that because this dry season has been so brutally dry with no real rain for so long he reckons that he might stay out of the water for two weeks when it finally comes down.....


Anyway, surf was terrible...waves at my usual spot all blown out, crumbly and stacked on top of each other....good size swell, but so much wind chop and fat ugly waves I paddled out, let a set come through then cherry picked the biggest on the following set back to the beach....called it and will now look for waves on the east coast for the next 5 months or so.....

[HurdyGurdyManOnAWave]

Went to Malibu, Surfrider beach for the first time today. I'm sort of a city boy, i'm used to fast spontaneous beach break that is more often than not non-surfable. (Santa Monica, Sunset Blvd, and south).

There is about a ten mile difference from Malibu and and my usual spots. Well, the waves were really mellow, the most hurt i got was my feet on the rocks and "reef" as the folks on the beach called it, i wouldnt consider it a reef though.

anyway, i stayed on first point, and the waves were too slow for my short board, they peeled nice and slow, with a mild gradient, they weren't steep at all. It's not a very exposed beach, so only certain swells were hitting it every few minutes. ...ZZZZ. When I asked about the beach and how rocky it was at the other points, I was confronted by the same advice I always hear,

"move forward on your board while paddling".
Ah! it really does have a very narrow working spot while paddling. they don't understand, a smidge forward and my nose starts picking up water, regardless of how fast i'm going.

"Get a new board"
a lady with a longboard insisted in a tone that somewhat denoted that shortboards are lame and long boards are the shiz. Okay! longboards are cool as hell, i'll get one when I can....Let me just get to second point, where its actually pumping, and there is a wave every 10 seconds, rather than 10 minutes.

"bring your legs together on your tail"
yes, i know, but i'm stationary right now, there are no waves at first point. i'll put my legs together when I actually want to get moving.

Thanks for all the unasked for advice locals, you were totally cool, but I'm sure we'd have more fun when i finally get a longboard.

....A little more risky, but i stayed in the shallow part closest to the point, where it was actually breaking with the tenacity that i'm used to. I caught a wave on first point in this area (actually two, but i don't really count one)

Now second point and third point, were smashing, something i'm a little more used to from my local beach break (just better) Some waves were quick and long peeling like the point break it is, other times it broke in open sections that clashed like a beautiful array of fireworks. Ah the fantasy of riding it. But I had my college class at 1:00pm and needed to leave early, and i'm not exactly sure how shallow the rocks are around second and third, i was encouraged to go by a few people that knew the beach, but by that time it was too late, and i'd rather go accompanied with someone that has some experience around there.
Ah, i wanna learn how to rollercoaster.

This might be a long shot. but if anyone wants to show me the ropes of that beach one morning, i'll bring the coffee and some other goodies.

Next spot... a little one wave point, i've found on google maps. unlisted as a spot anywhere on the web, but I see a couple boards in the water. hopefully, i'm welcome or know someone.

All-in-all, good vibes, everyone is friendly, but i'm a weirdo who learned on a short board and is completely foreign to a long board and very few people seem to get that.

I did meet one cool really f******** cool dude on a shorter board than mine, who rode the second point almost all the way to the pier. His name is Chris, and i'm gauging his age was mid-70's. Really cool dude, so was the lifeguard.

alright, that was longer than it should have been.

[Big H]

Longboards are also commonly called "Malibu's".......'nuff said.....

[drowningbitbybit]

Crumbly 2-3ft this morning with the odd 4ft set thrown in. I took out my lardy 6'10 as, due to moving house*, I haven't surfed much over the last couple of months. Caught half a dozen - not a whole heap of face time due to the crumbling waves, but slammed a few spraying cutbacks to get into it.
God, it feels good to be back in the water


* Did I mention I'd bought a new house? With a pool? Hoping the paddle fitness will take a boost from daily swimming. Seemed okay this morning despite barely surfing for 2 months, so it's doing some good

[Big H]

Winds shifted back again, some swell so I surfed west side today... Went to Kuta, only the second time this week....main peaks were barreling closeouts so I took the longboard and set up on a peeling break with only 4 others on it....lots of waves, working on cross stepping, the actual action as well as when to do it and how far to go before backing off....apparently not as easy as it looks, been working off And on on this for a few weeks and making slow headway....headway nonetheless.....just need about 1000 more waves and I'll have something then....got a lot of waves today....Kuta is good for that, not the best quality but if you want you can pretty much keep surfing or paddling back to position non stop. Reps....

[drowningbitbybit]

Small gutless surf today so I thought I'd get the 'first boardshorts of summer slip slide slip' session out the way