Swami's Surfing on Summer Solstice

Sweet ! 

First day of Summer !

I always request this day off

Bingo 

Got in a double surf on my favorite day, in perfect weather!
#45

Swami's swell conditions weren't sooo great, but

I did get to surf with my favorite surf buddy,Jason !

Laurie came too and we had a great beach day in the warm waters and sun.

Got some nice peaky drops and shoulders.

Did my Glad to get that outta the way kooky sled ride.

Then got a handful of nice stuff. So did my son.

Hope he knows how proud of him I am !

I have only surfed Swami's 4 times before.

I can say this.

The line up has a great vibe to it.

NICE DAY !

You-ness, Me-ness, Us-ness, We-nes,..... sickness ? Nah !

As we share the water we are a perfect mirror image

Almost an exact match
Old, beat up, disaster surgeries, stitched back together, and almost functional

Most notably however , we love the water and can still do it.

surf on...

So.Cal. Big South Surfing Swell or bust

The much anticipated Big South shows up.......  so selectively
Today, session 42, was a good one for me. Needed it !

THIS is probably the smallest wave of this day

(#42 of the year 2013 ?  a pitiful number really )
0510AM

This swell was coming in 16 second intervals at about 205 degrees and the sets were all there were.
It was glassy, calm and flat as a lake in between head high sets.

Got a nice long left shoulder all glassy and kinda fast.
Got a Big Drop to the right that formed a great head high wall that I sped down
marveling at the speed and size of the wave the whole way.
That one put a big  shit eatin' grin on my face.
Dropped a big close out to the bottom then got lunch served up
( later in the morning, while bending down to pick up and load my board into the car, about a half of a water glass of warm sea water poured out of one nostril, mmmmmmmm !)
The reef was getting it in spades, a lot of close outs but so big and THUNDERING
I'm glad I stayed at the houses today .
Only 5 people to the reefs 20 at 545am
I am riding the white board now that the big blue has been given a death sentence by Ding King
Once I am up on it I can move it better. Once I am up she's good.
Getting up is a bit harder but I'm getting it.
Yesterday I snuck out at 510 am to sneak in a pre work surf.
I rarely get pissed surfing but I got pissed yesterday.
Went to the reef knowing I had about 1 hour in the water the rush off to work.
20 people there.
Finally get a left and right as I stand a shorter board comes from the inside and makes the wave I'm on.
Yeah happens everywhere but this one got to me because, well, it did.
After polling a dawn patrol buddy, I find out what I suspected, and that was " well he was closest to the peak.
Blah blah blah, yada yada yada, I give him, the snake,  the full finger and go, pissed.
So
I completely snake my dawn patrol buddies parking spot this morning and laughed my ass off over it.
As I slid into the spot( just like that snake did to me yesterday at the reef ) I heard this AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!
then he lit his wheels up in reverse and backed down the road the wrong way into a spot .
I thought I was gonna bust a gut.
I am a very bad man.

Surf on

#'s 36,35,34,33,32 Surfs of the year or sum such ting

 #36 Wow  Today ( Wednesday 5/15/13 ) after work and in the water at  5PM
Its my fifth day in a row ~!  This is a good, no, GREAT thing !
Board in the car and right after the job I just hit it...
Trunks, SUNSHINE (something this Dawn Patroler isn't used to seeing) and a few waves.
I have decided to take my long"est" board in for surgery, major stuff. More on that later.
So I am revisiting an old flame, slender and faster and I have barely discovered her sweet spot.
Plan to do a lot more discovering.
This has been a rebirth for me..... I forgot how great it is going from work to surf without going home first.
VERY CLEANSING.
#35
Tuesday after work I felt like I was surfing my 3@ board a little better. Still Great to get out right after work. It gives me hope.
#34 Monday I decide to start going out after work to get used to a new ( old ) board while my big board is in PRE-OP > I hear there is a big swell coming next week and want to prepare for it as best as I can so
I intend to get in as many as I can.
Waves are good-ish but I am not so good-ish.
Still it beats about anything else.
#33 Sunday was at the reef with only DP crew.
Got a few but not a lot. It was fun
#32
Saturday went to the reef with only a couple people. Slipped into some rights.
Usually others forgo the rights for the bowley lefts there, but..... there are a few who go right there now cutting into my once very good odds( for the Reef )

#31..Last Sat., May 4th.I put on a little show

Dawn Patrol with a cold breeze, 

chop,

 me in trunks,...... puttin' on a show,

 A KOOK SHOW

Yep

 

K O O K

Lastly Last Weekend #'s 28 29 30

Feelin' like summer yet?
I am !
Anyways

Last Sat was not all that. Got some and got out.,
At this writing 1 week later ,
I truthfully don't recall it.  I am 57.  
Uh oh.
Last Sun, a bit more fun.
Was at the reef and only the Dawn Patrol was there, I think...hmmm

OK...... LAST NIGHT WAS FUN  as in I was surfing kinda  "funny " but still fun.
Friday night and the swell and  warm 85 degree off shores  were all supposed to be there....

WELL  they were their, and then there was the tide .
Friday came at the end of a rough week at work. More so than usual.
TRUNKS super glass and very warm ( 65) water?
Nothing like Grinding away at work
while there is a nice swell going on. ( Thurs-Fri.)

Any way it was great to get out on a weeknight and wash the work week away.
I put on a show for those that were around to see me bouncing in the high tide.
Laurie is up at Oregon for a week.

Glad to have got out on a week night .......

# 27 SUNDAY A-OK

Now that was really fun !
In at 6am with super glass. The reef was showing some sets that looked chest high or better.
Fellow Dawn Patroler Mike headed there immediately. I choose to stay behind and see if I could pick off waist high peaks with knee high shoulders.

This worked for me today AND I really needed that.
In that first half hour in solitude I had many mellow glides to the right .

I am beginning to really like this type of wave. Especially the solitude and not having to
 wait and choose, it is nicer to pick and choose.
Some others came out and I enjoyed their company from a distance and we all caught some.
I got out of my wetsuit and into my trunks for some more sensuous fun
And Then... AND THEN.... AND THEN......!
A couple of really nice chest high and better sets came all the way over from the reef and through the houses spot where we were.
Nice glassy chest highs....
super sweet...
perfect finish to a super Sunday morning surf !

THANK YOU ! !

Saturday 4/20/13 #26 tHAt wIND SwELL is LIke

Wind swell is most certainly not my cup of tea.
Went to the reef with a friend and, well, I got 1 decent ride,
a right and the rest was an exercise in ...well lets just call it 

weird shit

Fun yes.... weird definitely
surfing IS GREAT that way
always different

weird on

Wed, Sat Sun...#23,24,25

Wednesday April 10th. #23
Glass-ish, TRUNKS, clear skies, no wind
 After a very rough day at work and with the "after work" forces working again' me, I do make it out to my first mid week surf with my son this yea.r
Wind swell and a semi difficult paddle out at 545 pm make it an OK surf.
Well frankly, I must say it was
GREAT
How it "washes away all that is bad", still works(?), WHY ? I dunno and  I dont care to know.
I just know it does, and that is that.

THANK YOU ! 

So we have a good time. My son lost his job of 2 years while on the cusp of getting a new dream job

He did not get the dream job.

He has taken back his athletic self however by loosing 28 pounds and running.

I have faith .

Good to see him catch a few in the water again that Wednesday

  Saturday #24 and Sunday #25 were so similar.

Difficult- for- me- to- catch -wind -swell ,and I go away feeling, "good" about a quality ride or two.

Good stuff but always wishing for some better rides.

I am deliberately exiting the back side of waves....at least on these two days I gave it a shot.

Trunks on Saturday

Wetsuit on Sunday ....bah  wetsuits

 

 

 

Sunday #23 Frustration and then.....

After 2 days of difficult to catch waves in the high tide early mornings of dawn patrol I get

MUCH more frustration on Sunday. Too cold in the air to trunk it at 615am
I go out looking at larger waves, but catch practically none, as my D.P. friends each get  one or two.
Again too much water for the swell.
So
After 30 min of that I decide to surf my own game and move north.
I finally spot an outsider and point my finger up to indicate that I have seen this to the others so they may prepare. I knew this one was coming north of them and I knew this one was mine.
Jacked and peaked right behind me and I dropped a nice steep left. Had a good ride and was super stoked right there and then.
Sometimes one is all I need
Sometimes I need one
Was perfection really.
surf on...

The Birthday Sessions #21-#22

So I ask for a day off the day before my b-day  Friday 4/5/13

#21

57   wow where did it go and how did it happen soooooo fast?
The forecast was for good stuff 3-6 spread over the days.
Friday was a very high tide at the Dawn patrol .

I have a hard time NOT doing the dawn patrol.
I just love going out first, or close to it .
So   Friday got a few, tidy and hard to get into

Saturday #22

 Saturday was Good too

Trunks and same kind of conditions. Love it though not the wave fest of last weekend .

Funny how waves can be 4 times the size but harder to get into ...such is surfing.

Easter Sunday

​

March ( 23 n' 24) non madness #17 and #18

I am b logging back wards a week. I remember being very pleasantly surprised in the amount of smallerish (waist high) waves that I was able to get. I am learning how to get into waves a little better. I did not surf after work on any days that week or the week following. I let myself down there. I shoulda, woulda, couldaand didnt. Even after promising myself that I would. Non the less, Surf 2013 # 17 was good, and it made me happy. The following #18 wasn't quite as good, more people competing for lines, ah well such is surfing...

Saint Patrick's Day

#16 Sunday ( no Saturday )
Wow I have only been out 16 times in 2013 ? ! ?
Maybe that's why I am in the state I'm in, oh well I can fix that.
Today's Dawn patrol, got there a wee bit late, 0630Am  I felt like it was already lunch time
 celebrating with my girl last night at 333 in Oceanside, seaside by the pier .
Mmmmm  Calamari, Sushi rolls and
the SUPER MARTINI'S 333 is famous for.
A sour kiss= chipotle pineapple monin, cranberry juice,Grapefruit Vodka, a stiff lime foam .
and a Myer Lemon Drop Martini.

Toady's waves were on the smaller side but I got  a few.
Nicer rights for me. Good one for others. Just didn't get a lot .
Had Fun it was soooo gooood to get wet, as it always is.
I did get a good nod from a GREAT SURFER there.
he said I was developing some style. He is right ( seems strange to say )I have seen changes in my surfing, subtle but some style coming thru.
That was really cool to hear.
Over the last month I have noticed very small improvements,
I was hoping to hear a little affirmation and just when I really needed it ....boom !
Promising myself  to get out after work 2 times this work week and

 I'm gonna.

Period

Stoked ! !  

L8Ts

Sunday re-visited and ode to daylight savings

# 15 materializes after much adu and inter cranium chaos.
This mornings failure to launch off the cliff and into the water, WAS mostly due to atmospheric and oceanic conditions, (my head trippin), BUT

I wander back out to Terramar @ 12 noon. 

The wind is just starting and I head off in my spring suit alone. Get a few junked up waves then ride in and remove the spring suit and go back in, in trunks.

 I get a few more in the chilly water but am renewed in the act of surfing without any wet suit .
It is so important for me to feel the water envelop me. To have that and the sun surround me simply turns me on.

 

On an even brighter note

IT"S DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME

This means I may survive myself !

If I cant get out just 2-3 days after work each week,

I might make it through another year !

STOKED ! ! ! ! !

No Saturday and NO SUNDAY !

# non-15
Well not yet anyways.
I had better get some or

It's gonna get f*ckin ugly !

Rough week, rough Saturday ( nuthin' but my own fault )
now no surf Sunday.
Uggh
Somethings gonna give

Sunday 3/3/13 Guilty but GOOD

#14
On time for a Dawn Patrol ! 0545 I arrive to 2 in the water amidst the blackness at The Reef.
Val on her body board at the beach. The official Dawn Patrol on the cliff.
Suit up quickly and in.

Glass with some texture on it. I get into a few long rights again. I think my little Terramar has developed a better shoulder going right now this year.
I get a cheater 5, I think the best ever.
Get a very long inside left.. plus + plus.
Mike, Steve,Cruz and Tim are getting 'em as well. Just us in the water for an hour.
I'm am feeling guilty as last night, after my son came home from a 16 hour day , I ask him if he wants to"surf in the morning?"
His response is " well  like when? 3AM?
Right.
So I suggest around 11am.
5 dark o'clock rolls around and I cant stay put and coffee up and go.
Bad Dad.
Live and learn 
Next observation is that I definitely believe that surfing or the act of paddling for the wave is causing me back issues.
 BACK ISSUES. SHIT !.
THIS is simply not cool, good, acceptable, etc.,etc. !
I need to figure out if I can avoid THIS in the future or I fear my days may be numbered.
THIS  isn't figuring into the plan at all.

Good day, hope to have many more.

Many more ! !

Saturday #13

I was late getting to dawn patrol.
6am
The sun is sneaking out earlier these days.

There is more at the reef then the houses, but more people as well.
I surfed alone for the first 1/2 hour.
Glass, clear skies, off shores.
Solitude.
Silence.
Waves
Slowish... but in that hour of surfing I got 12 or more most of which I felt good on.
Long rides with faced shoulders that went right, waaay right.
The reef  had 16 surfers on it by 630, and while many got good waves there, I had made the right call for me...
Very stoked.

Sunday 2-24-13

#12 of the year
Because of being so sore after Fridays Fun I skipped Saturdays DP
Instead DP Sunday I thought I would play the tides and surf with my son.
Sunny, waves semi glass, and nobody out.
Yes! Surfing with Jason again!
It seems so long ago, now that we surfed so much together.

He hasn't really surfed in a long time. There have been occasional outings but nothing at all resembling consistent. I was in better paddle shape than he, something that I dont like to see, none the less he made it out and we had a good time. So good to see him surf again. He's been working 6 days a week for 2.5 years now.

We had a good time

I had a great time being "we"

Stoked

Rare Friday Fun

#11 STOKED

Friday at the Doctor's at 0730 then...  Made a crummy day a great one !

End of February 78 degrees, sun, glass, waves, convertible.
Fun !
How often can I surf ALONE in the middle of a lot of waves and grab ,I don't know, 20 hand picked waves?
Practically never !
Rights, lefts, close outs, speed glides, turns  new moves are coming, good stuff.
Great session.
Now everything hurts.
It will be the way things are for me, I suppose, to a degree.
Whatever.
Nice day                                                                                                            I'm STOKED

STOKED