I Love The Fall

Definitely my favorite time of year for surfing. Typical fall morning, clear skies, offshore, a nice mix of swell and warm water. Waves were only chest to shoulder high but really clean. Crowd factor was nil. Paddled out at 5:50, thanks to the full moon and cloudless skies.

Moon setting at 5:40am - night time mode - approx. 5 seconds exposure

More Than Anyone Expected

It was way better than I expected.   Chest to head high, glassy, warm water, light crowd.   Steve and I had it to ourselves for the first 45 min.  Glad I didn't bring the big board.   While on the beach around 9:00 they played taps on the SONGS emergency loud speakers in remembrance of the victims of 9/11.   It was really eerie. 

Phil





We Came, We Saw, We Went Home

Small crumbly overlapping peaks, on and off south wind and it started raining.  So it was either go out or leave.  We opted for the latter since the tide was moving up too.  

Satisfaction

Have I commented on how happy I am that summer is over? Today we paddled out a little after 6:00 into chest high waves, offshore flow and 63˚/64˚ water. Crowd was super light (the usual cast of characters) and after 8:00 there were only a handful of us in the water; stayed out till 9:15. I’m tired, I think I’ll take a nap now.

Cleaner - Smaller - Uncrowded

Water warmed up a tad too.  When I pulled up on the beach it was still dark and the foam on the waves had that blue florecent glow from plankton (I think).  As I was paddling out it was doing it too around the nose of my board.  Cool.   I've got to go in early tomorrow so it's all your'n.

TGSIO

Thank God Summer Is Over.

Pretty much just the regulars today enjoying the shoulder high plus waves, calm wind and 60˚ water. Still a little bump on it from the winds in the channel but not too bad.

Fickle Wind

When I got up this morning to let the Pugs out the wind was blowing at least 10 knots at my house out of the west. On the way down I came off at Calafia to look at State Park and get a read on the wind. It was hard onshore there. Met Fred, Nick, Dave and Steve in the parking lot at uppers and decided to ride down anyway. By the time we got down to the beach the wind had died way down. By the time we were in the water it was glassy but with some residual bump.   For a while it turned off-shore. Waves were head high plus and I caught plenty of waves for how crowded it was.   Better to be lucky than good.  One problem: the water was below 60˚!  Stupid wind.

Sunday Funday

Still big, but more manageable for a wuss like me.  Only really caught a half dozen waves or so.  The crowd was thick and sets were inconsistent.  While I was changing I saw a rogue set clear the line up.  Ouch!

A Man’s Got To Know His Limitations

I hate to say it but Friday was just too big for me. Uppers looked closed out on the biggest sets as I checked it out from the bluff near basilone road. The cleanup set I saw closed out and cleared the lineup. Forgot the camera, so no pictures from Friday.

Today I decided to just go out at Doho as I had to be home by 7:30 for a family  commitment. Only stayed out for an hour as it got really crowded with people who had no business being out there.   The great thing about Doho is nobody wants to take off on the set waves, the bad thing is there are tons of people on the inside.  Pure pandemonium. Here's some Doho pics:

Everyday Should Be Like Today

We had a surprise increase in swell today which kept the crowd factor to a minimum. Paddled out at 5:45 and caught a half dozen waves before 6:15 with just a handfull of guys out.   Waves were overhead and clean.   Surfed till 8:00.  

Sitting in the airport for a quick trip to Chicago.  The good news is I got my upgrade for a change.   First class baby!

Too bad I didn't take this pic a second before - it was pretty funny