Latest Surfs...

[oldmansurfer]

I missed some good surf here. It was up at the beach I usually surf but I have a laceration on my finger from a dog bite and even though I had time to go yesterday after work, I resisted the urge to let my thumb heal up so that hopefully by the weekend I will be good to go (and hopefully there will be another swell)

[jaffa1949]

Most surfers do a cutback, OMS does a cutfinger!!!

Hope it heals quickly!

[oldmansurfer]

The surf this morning at my beach is definitely not imperfect OMG I have to go surf (after work) It's going to be crowded if it stays that good. Think I will try to put a waterproof bandage and tape it up real good. Hopefully I can find a peak that isn't crowded

[oldmansurfer]

Oh well the swell died and the wind came up so back to imperfect conditions The waves looked good but very inconsistent at outside Horners so it was breaking with infrequent overhead waves and then occasionally double overhead and while I wanted to go out I figured it would be difficult to lineup because there weren't enough waves to make the boil show consistently so I went to middle Horners where I could use the Horners Rock to lineup. It was difficult enough there but I caught a couple of not too good waves so I went over right next to the rock where I saw some waves that might give me a ride with a wall for a while and caught my two best waves which amounted to rides consisting entirely of projection bottom turns and more stalling type top turns but both waves I managed to string a bunch of turns together. Just as I was going in a freak set with 15 plus foot faces came in. I had already paddled a little out but ended up inside so had to paddle for the shoulder on each consecutive wave because I guess each wave was getting bigger. By the time I was in position the set was over and I was scanning the horizon for more waves and none to be seen. Today it was at the very biggest waist high and I mostly rode my board on the nose angled to the shore just like a longboard. It was sunny and there was a sideshore wind which blew me out of lineup constantly so I got lots of paddling in

[oldmansurfer]

This weekend is one of those rare moments where there is no surf at my beach. Yesterday was flat and the water was chocolate brown so I chose to go work in my garden instead. Today the water was only slightly brown but still pretty flat. There were no clouds in the sky and no waves on the horizon. So I needed to paddle and so I did. I went in right in front of the parking lot where there were some guys trying to bodysurf and paddled over to the rivermouth where there were some tiny waves. I paddled at an increased rate over what I would normally paddle long distance because I hadn't surfed yesterday. Managed to catch a wave there and it didn't inspire me so I paddled back at my usual long distance paddle rate. Caught a wave there and it didn't impress me so I paddled all the ways to the other side of the bay and back. My paddling time was somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes interspersed with catching a few small waves (knee high at the biggest)

[oldmansurfer]

Another weekend of no surf. Had to work yesterday and today no waves. I paddled all the way across and back the whole bay. Took me about 25 minutes with maybe 2 one minute breaks on each side of the bay (I started in the middle). There were some tiny swells but I didn't catch a single wave and only tried to catch some on the end.

[IanCaio]

So once upon a spot, there was hope to find some waves when every other spot seemed flat. At first the waves were breaking weak in the inside, on a shallow sandbank. In the beginning this was sounding like a harsh session: Got some cuts in a wipe out, then pearled on a wave landing straight down with my face in the sand, with my camera on my mouth. Thankfully I didn't break my teeth, but I think it was really close!

Waves started breaking a bit further out. A friend had just took a wave and was paddling back out, when I saw this small left coming. I went for it, set the rail on the face, saw it was about to break in front of me, so I did something I've been doing often when I feel there's not much to do in a wave: I pulled up and crouched. I can't believe I closed my eyes, but I could feel the lip touching my back, and I was still riding. At some point I lost speed, because of the lip dragging me I guess, and I was this close to just break out through the lip, but I lost balance and felt.

When I got up, I was not sure what really happened, but both my friends said they could see me almost scoring a tube! The one paddling out said he could see me through the lip riding for a while. The other on the outside said he could kind of see me behind the swell. Damn, I feel happy as a child! If I feel like that without coming out from the tube, I can't imagine what a feeling it will be when I do

[jaffa1949]

You haven't posted for a while, you come back with this pearler. Worth the wait!

[IanCaio]

You haven't posted for a while, you come back with this pearler. Worth the wait!

Lots of things going on lately. I was looking for a place to myself, since I was in a bit of a fragile situation here (depending on living in small fraternities or paying expensive rents). I found a cool place, small and with a price I could afford financing, so I went ahead with it. I signed the contract, payed the fees and the entrance, and finally got the keys yesterday! Was starting the cleaning today, and plan on getting my things there by the weekend

Still plenty of stuff to sort out, but I'm happy I took this step!

And what about you Jaffa, all good?

[oldmansurfer]

Damn, I feel happy as a child! If I feel like that without coming out from the tube, I can't imagine what a feeling it will be when I do

It's fortunate you feel that way. For me the first time I got tubed surfing I was like "It's about time." no real thrill involved because prior to surfing I had been getting really tubed paipo boarding. It took me a long time (numerous tube rides) till I got a tube that thrilled me surfing.

[Big H]

Damn, I feel happy as a child! If I feel like that without coming out from the tube, I can't imagine what a feeling it will be when I do

It's fortunate you feel that way. For me the first time I got tubed surfing I was like "It's about time." no real thrill involved because prior to surfing I had been getting really tubed paipo boarding. It took me a long time (numerous tube rides) till I got a tube that thrilled me surfing.

How did you feel the first time you got tubed on a paipo board?

[oldmansurfer]

How did you feel the first time you got tubed on a paipo board?

Yeah that was a blast but probably not as much as the first time I got tubed bodysurfing. However I had some really awesome tube rides paipo boarding so eventually that shadowed the bodysurfing tube rides. There however were very few tube rides surfing that were better than paipo boarding. I still recall a paipo boarding tube I had where you could have put a school bus between me and the opening of the tube at one point and when I came close to the opening, the tube collapsed and tossed me about 10 feet above the wave and I came down on the whitewater and rode out onto the unbroken face of the wave and did a 360 and cut out. Paipo boarding is so great for tube riding

[oldmansurfer]

Thought maybe this would be a three peat of surfless weekends but there were some knee to waist high waves. I caught a bunch of waves mostly just trimming along but I did manage a few turns including a backside bottom turn to off the lip snap which I had to follow up with a run out to the nose because the wave was only knee high at that point. I caught a fairly long back side wave where all I did was trim along anyways I never thought I would be so happy to see small tiny waves

[oldmansurfer]

another weekend of small surf. I took out my 7'6' board because i hadn't been riding it at all lately figuring I needed to get used to it again. For me at least it seems like if I surf two boards, the one I ride the most is the one I have muscle memory for. I was trying to surf it like I do the 8 foot board and in the waves present today it didn't work as well. Oh well Guess I am surfing that board till I get those instincts back again. It was knee to waist high again and while my wave count was pretty decent for the time I spent it wasn't as good as it would have been with the 8 foot board. There some waves with a bit of wall to turn on but mostly I wasn't able to stay lined up well enough due to currents from the rivermouth. I did get onto a wave with a nice wall and managed to do a few turns but I was slightly off balance the whole wave did a bottom turn and a snap off the lip both slightly off balance then a couple other turns and dug a rail at the end. I think because I was so used to the 8 foot board I was reacting like it was that board which didn't quite work in these conditions

[oldmansurfer]

Small surf once again. Took out the 7'6" again and I am getting used to it once again. Yesterday I shared the lineup with a couple of SUPers, they lined up 30 yards further out than me but often didn't catch the wave till they were close to me. I caught a couple waves that I rode for 30 or 40 yards sometimes nose riding to keep moving in these sectiony little waves. I can get really far out on the nose of my 7'6"board because it has little rocker. Today I managed to do a functional cutback int the middle of one wave I had. I carried speed through the whole turn and sprayed a couple feet high spray, not much but considering it was waist high that was good. Fun days much preferable to just paddling.

[oldmansurfer]

Small surf again this weekend. Probably the best ride I had amounted to a backside bottom turn to cutback combo then the wave died out. There were some better waves coming in but it was difficult for me to lineup for them. Realistically I probably would have done just as well to drift through the lineup and take whatever cam my way but at least I got a lot of practice reading waves and figuring out the lineup

[oldmansurfer]

small surf yesterday but today head high! Yesterday it was back to the rivermouth the only place with frequent rideable waves. It was challenging on my 7'6" board and perhaps it would have been on any board due to it breaking all over the place and having a narrow takeoff zone. Today I went to the middle of the beach sandbar and it was breaking outside so not just shoredump but breaking all over the place and shifting peaks so difficult to lineup. I caught one decent wave which I did ok on making small weak cutbacks and other turns due to the small weak wave conditions. I did do one hard driving cutback but fell after hitting off the whitewater. I did a foam climb and fell today too. Whitewater wasn't good to me. hey but I am so glad to have some size even if it was mushy and difficult. I like to be challenged when I surf so it's all good. I enjoy that type of challenge as opposed to fighting for a wave in a crowded lineup.

[jaffa1949]

After all the medical treatment it was really nice to find an uncrowned corner of my surf domain, and head out to see what my recovering body could do. Gentle waves with enough oomph to make popping up easy enough good face and enough strength in my body to do it.
3 waves decreasing wobbles and increasing skill on each successive wave, but the batteries went flat when I reached the shore noseriding onto the sand . Tired old walk to the car, but most satisfying

This was the challenging wave and the entire crowd, both of whom knew me and gave lots of support.

[dtc]

Legend

[oldmansurfer]

Looks like you lost some weight jaffa. Glad to hear you are back catching waves. My weekend was ok. The good news is the waves were overhead. Both days I went to the middle break at Horners Yesterday I had a couple of waves with good maneuvers using my 7"6" board I did a backside bottom turn to cutback and a backside bottom turn to off the lip 2 different waves. The cutback was nearly the end of the wave but the off the lip turn the wave had a bit more to go but I got hung up on a ledge or some flat part at the top of the wave where it crumbled and ran out on the nose to keep going and it was steep enough to do some more turns but was choppy as heck and I didn't want to risk changing foot position while hitting all that chop so I just stayed on the front and rode the wave out. Today was bigger but way more difficult. The current was so strong I couldn't stop paddling or I rapidly drifted out of position. I spent nearly the whole 30 minutes paddling or riding waves and I was tired by the end of my time there. Awesome workout but not much in the way of waves caught, maybe three or four and nothing great. I am sure it would have been easier with the 8 foot board.