Had a fine session this morning.   Paddled out a little after 5am with Jeff.   We pretty much had it to ourselves for the first hour.   What a difference a day makes.   The incoming tide kind of put the kibosh on the consistency.

Lowers looked good too.

Monday, June 28th

A little frustrating after the first hour when the crowd really got thick.   

Friday June 25th

Paddled out at 5am with one other guy.   It started out glassy, then off-shore with waist to shoulder high waves.   Got 3 or 4 really fun ones that pealed on the inside.   Then things began to wane, more guys paddled out and the stupid south wind began to blow, by 6:45 I was over it.

Shark!

I've been surfing for 43 years (I know, I'm old as dirt) and this is only the second time I've seen a shark in the lineup.  I was sitting a little inside towards the bay and was looking towards the point when I saw a fin pop out of the water about 3 yards from my friend Tom.  The "fin" did a zig-zag move towards a bird sitting in the water nearby.   The bird jumped up and landed again and the shark made another move on the bird before it flew away.   By this time Tom and most of the other people in the water had paddled into the shallows and eventually on shore.   Most everyone went back out after a half hour or so.   That shark looked hungy so I just went to work.   The waves were small, but it was glassy:

Monday, June 21st

Since there is little to no surf and a coastal eddy we all need a little levity. So here I present one of my favorite movie clips: The Big Lebowski - Gutterballs

Desparate Men Do Desparate Things

It's a good thing there were only 4 or 5 people willing to wait for inconsistent waist high waves.   There were a few shoulder high waves from time to time but nothing to write home about.    Hey, the water was warm!

One Of Those Days

A drained out session resulting from a minus 1.1 low tide, a little texture from the south, inconsistent, and a few new faces without any surf etiquette.   I did get a little cover up; made my day.   Here is Matt:

Not too crowded but some bad Carma out there.  

This was next to my car when I got back up top; see what bad Carma can get you:

Sunday Funday

Some playful waves were had with familiar faces.   The eddy (which passed overnight) held off the usual hordes.   Who let this one go unridden?   For shame...

Here is Mr. Black:

The bay was peaky too:

State Park

Got a late start today.   I could feel the south wind through my bedroom window, so I took my time.   Took a look at Basilone and decided to see if the cliffs were blocking any of the wind for state park.  Better than going home dry....

After 10 days on the road Mother Nature welcomed me back to my home break with a weak coastal eddy.   Being pretty hard up for a salt water fix I paddled out into inconsistent waist / shoulder high waves with a medium bump.   Didn't catch a wave for 10 - 15 minutes after having to duck dive 6 or 7 waves on the paddle out.   God it's good to be home.

Managed to have a pretty fun session given there were only 4 guys out and the south wind was off and on.   I'm not saying it got glassy but it wasn't nearly as choppy as was expected.   Here's a few pictures of the lagoon.

More pictures from Schwaebisch Hall:

Schwaebisch Hall

Berlin was hot 85 - 90 degrees on the weekend.   I flew to Stuttgart today and now find myself in Schwaebisch Hall; much cooler.   The town is located in the valley of the river Kocher.  This town dates back to the 5th century.   And we thought the SJC mission ruins were old....

Berlin, Germany

Super busy with work related activities here, but I did manage to get out last night for a quick walk around and dinner with a co-worker near the Brandenburg Gate:

Ireland

The taste of Guinness and smell of turf burning in someone's fireplace.   Nothing like it.   Checked the surf at Carrownisky in Louisberg.   A bit windy and the rental unit was unmanned for the day.

So I figured the other side of the Clew Bay would be off shore.  Old Head was off shore, but no size.

So decided to just take some pictures Here is Croagh Patrick:

And here is the monument to the the Coffin Ships which brought the Irish to America during the Great Potato Famine of the mid 1800's.  It is estimated that during this time in excess of a 20,000 people died each year on these ships due to on-board disease.