- Threes, 6:45AM-8:45AM
- on my 9'6''
- With Craig, on my 9'2''. Up to 10 other people out including 2 SUPs, a couple of spongers. Clarence and John.
- waist- to chest-high, moderate winds, not very consistent in part due to the high tide, but still some nice waves coming through.
- Caught 10 waves, with a couple of pretty fun ones. Sort of unexpected after so many days with junky stormy surf...
- It was Craig's first session in Hawai`i and it was quite a change from his Oregon's beach break, starting with the paddle all the way out there.
- Threes, 6:30AM-7:40AM
- on my 9'6''
- By myself. Alone for 1/2 hour, then 2 spongers, then 2 longboarders.
- knee- to waist-, light winds, rain for 10 minutes halfway through, sort of clean but a bit odd due to the swell being a wrap, thus having a lot of West in it.
- Caught about 10 waves, including a couple of semi-fun one. Nothing too exciting though.
- On the best wave I took off on, that longboarder totally dropped in on me. I should really have said something but I was just too stunned. He was a really good surfer actually, and he made eye contact with me as he was dropping in. I was sure he was going to back off, and then he made the drop. I had to slow down and straighten out a bit, which left me in the white. I could definitely have made that section and I guess he thought I wouldn't make it. But still, the deliberateness of it and the lack of apology after the fact was a bit stunning.
- One sea lion in the line-up, briefly.
- Flies, 9:45AM-11AM.
- on my 9'6'', no leash.
- By myself. Two people out, one teaching the other.
- Waist-high, choppy, ugly, windy, but somehow some waves coming through.
- Caught 10+ waves, with only a couple that were decent ride, for some definition of decent.
- On my first wave I pearled in some chop, and lost my board. I ended up swimming in and it quickly became clear I had gone too far in. Some guy on the shore pointed out to the board that was outside and toward the left. Pretty good workout I guess. Didn't lose the board after that.
- A bunch of divers everywhere, which was a bit unnerving when they were either on the inside or in the waves looking like huge sharks.
- Threes, 6:45AM-7:45AM
- on my 9'6''.
- By myself. Jim and David in the lineup, and 8 other guys out. Eric and Clarence later.
- Waist-high, slow, light to moderate winds, but a few sets.
- It was pretty crowded. That Coast Guard guy who comes to Threes pretty often brought 7, yes, 7 of his Coast Guard friends. Totally inappropriate really.. But I have to say they stayed closer to the left.
- Caught about 10 waves, with nothing to write home about, but we could tell that the swell was building. It could be decent tomorrow.
- Good conversations with Jim and Eric in the water.
- Flying fish in the line-up.
- Flies, 6:45AM-8:15AM
- on my 9'6''.
- With Fred, on my 9'2'', for his first session ever. up to 8 people out including Jay, Justin, Jordan, and later Carl.
- Glassy, waist- to chest-high, clean if oddly shaped, not consistent.
- A beautiful morning out there and quite a few nice waves coming through.
- Caught about 10 waves, including 2 or 3 nice long ones. Faces were really open today, which was great. I was pretty out of shape and I just couldn't get into one of the nicest waves of the day, which was pretty sad. Justin was like: "ok, you've got to go sit on the inside for 15 minutes now" :)
- Fred did ok, and caught a nice wave on his stomach. Later on it got a little but crowded and he stayed on the ever annoying inside left.
- Flies, 6:30AM-8:00AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. 7-8 other people out (the usual weekend crew).
- waist-high, glassy, weak, inconsistent, slow.
- Caught about 5-6 waves, nothing really good. The tide was too high, which I knew, but I had to go to Kaneohe right after the session... it was good to get wet though.
- Threes, 6:30AM-8:00AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. 4-5 other people out, including Jim, Steve, Clarence and his daughter, and that guy Carlos on an SUP.
- knee- to waist-high, with a few chest-high sets toward the end of the session, glassy, clean, not consistent.
- Caught about 10 waves, including 2 really fun lefts, which somehow were very nicely open and holding today. Overall a pretty fun session.
- Flies, 4:30PM-6PM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Nobody out.
- knee- to waist, very inconsistent, sloppy, not breaking much, moderate winds.
- I may have reached the epitome of surfing zen, or brain-damage, depends how you look at it. Because the fact that I was all happy getting out of the water after this session is pretty unreal.
- I showed up at Flies just to check the surf, in spite of the rising tide and the high wind, there was a chance for the North wrap to produce some size. But when I showed up in the usually pretty empty parking lot it was utterly full, with 1/3 of it blocked. There was that Valentine's Day party/concert going on in the park, probably a Japanese-themed event given the crowd. So instead of being able to check the surf calmly and go home after seeing the expected chop, I went around and around, missing a spot by just a tiny bit 5 times. It started to be really, really annoying, and as I was going to give up I figured I could park a little further away and check the surf. It seemed stupid not to, after wasting 20 minute in the lot. So I parked the car on the other side of the park, and left my board there as I went to check the surf. When I finally reached the top of the hill I saw that beautiful chest-high set breaking with nobody out! So I immediately raced back to the car, not wanting to leave my board unattended too long, geared up and ran back to the spot... to find it... absolutely lame. Turns out, only one other set like that one came in and most of it was pretty ridiculous. Furthermore, the stereo from the party was blasting and given the winds I could totally hear it from the deserted line-up, most of it some dude yelling encouragements to the crowd to get them more excited about love and shit I guess. I ended up catching about 5 non-waves, and 2 waves, with one of these two sort of mildly fun I have to say. I missed the nicest set because, of course, I was too far inside.
- In spite of all this, and perhaps due to the stunning sunset, I got out of the water mentally refreshed and pretty damn happy. Go figure.
- Flies, 4:30PM-6PM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. One guy out and then Conrad with two friends of his.
- Waist-high, inconsistent, choppy, moderate to strong winds.
- Pretty windy out there but once in a while there would be a somewhat decent set.
- Caught about 15 waves, with 3 or 4 that were fun with decently long rides, although nothing matching "good" Flies. The wind, although impressive, wasn't too much of a factor.
- Today I was reading the waves pretty well, and Conrad's friends were saying that I had the place wired. Pretty funny, but it's true that considering the conditions I was myself sort of surprised to be getting decent rides.
- Flies, 4:30PM-5:30PM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Serge on my 9'2''.
- Knee- to waist-high, inconsistent, glassy in between periods with rain and light winds.
- Caught about 10 waves, with a couple of ok ones considering that it looked mostly flat initially.
- It was Serge's first session and by the end he was able to sit on the board and paddle, but also was completely exhausted.
- Breakwall, Lahaina, Maui, 1:30PM-2:30PM
- On a rented 9'2''
- With Serge taking a lesson. about 5 other people out in the line-up and 10+ taking lessons on the inside.
- Knee- to waist-high+, a bit windy, not very consistent, but a few waves coming through.
- The plan was for Serge to take a lesson while I would rent a board and go out. The board I got was a piece of crap, beat-up, loose-fin, 9'2'' epoxy.
- Caught 6-7 waves, with nothing great. The board was pretty hard to maneuver really, but at least it was good to surf a spot on another island.
- Serge had a very hard time, mostly physically, but hopefully got something out of it.
- Pacific Beach, San Diego, 8AM-9AM
- On a 8'6'' Becker trifin pintail, that Dario had in his garage.
- With Dario, nobody else out.
- Glassy, waist-high, not very consistent, but apparently much better than what they've been having here, what with the wind or the rain.
- Caught 5-6 waves, having a pretty hard time with the wetsuit, the booties, the different board, and the cold. But overall fun. Hopefully will be able to get back in the water with better weather during the week.
- Pacific Beach, San Diego, 8AM-9AM
- On Kathy's 8'6'' 3-fin Ellington.
- By myself, 25 people out on the main peak, at most 1-2 elsewhere.
- Glassy, waist- to occasional chest-high, high-frequency, many close outs, very hard to get into waves.
- When I showed up at the beach it was clear that the main sand bar was working, although at the edge of closing out. There were 25 guys on that peak, dropping in and getting the occasional good ride on chest-high ones that were pseudo-barreling. I opted to go South of them.
- The paddle out was a pain in the ass. I had forgotten those MB/PB paddles with high frequency wind swell crap. After 20 minutes I was finally out, very tired due to my being pretty out of shape, but happy to be out. And then, I was pretty much shut out, along with most people who were not on the main peak. A lot of doubles, triples, you name it. Completely impossible to get into them on the outside, and closing out bad on the inside. I was next to a longboarder for a while, and I think that neither of us even paddled for a wave for 30 minutes straight. Shortboarders weren't faring much better unless they were fighting it out with the crowd at the peak, where 4 waves out of 5 were closing out anyway. Very odd conditions, but brought back memories of bad wind swells. I managed to drop in on a close-out and made it in after 1h, without having surfed a single wave, and pretty cold by that point due to sitting around in the water.
- Beautiful morning out there. 3 dolphins on the outside. Tons of birds.
- Subs, Sunset Cliffs, San Diego, 7:30AM-8:30AM
- On Kathy's 8'6'' 3-fin Ellington, no leash.
- With Dario, 3-4 other people out.
- Very light winds, waist-high, sort of clean but really mushy due to the rising tide.
- Caught about 7-8 waves, with a few fun drops, but not much of a wall after that.
- Despite the pretty weak conditions if was really pleasant being in the water at the Cliffs.
- One sea lion in the line-up just as I got out there.
- Beacons, Leucadia, 6PM-7:30PM
- On a 8'6'' Becker trifin pintail, that Dario had in his garage.
- With Dario and Ari, 20+ other people out.
- Waist-high, pretty weak and mushy, glassy, a few sets once in a while.
- Opted for a late session with the evening glass off, but it was pretty crowded and not really working. Caught 5 waves, with a decent right and a decent left, but not much otherwise. Waves were very difficult to get into and on the sets it was pretty hard to be in the right place. Dario scored 4 set waves somehow and was pretty happy.
- We paddled back in at dark, which was pretty cool, and then walked back to Ari's place over the tracks. Overall a pleasant session.
- Pacific Beach, San Diego, 9:45AM-11AM
- On Kathy's 8'6'' 3-fin Ellington.
- With Dario, 10+ other people out but very spread out.
- Waist-high with a few chest-high sets coming in, glassy at first and choppy toward the end of the session, with conditions completely deteriorating in the end.
- Caught about 10 waves, with a pretty nice chest-high right with a great take-off. Otherwise, I was completely loopy today and surfed pretty poorly, very odd, but super happy.
- 3-4 dolphins, with a baby swimming next to his mother, less than 10 feet from us.
- Subs, Sunset Cliffs, San Diego, 6:45AM-8AM
- On a 8'6'' Becker trifin pintail, that Dario had in his garage, no leash.
- With Dario and Travis, 3 other people out.
- Waist-high+, inconsistent and weak, but still a few waves.
- Caught about 10 waves, with a very fun waist-high inside right that had a surprisingly good wall. My last wave was also pretty good, the biggest I caught all day, and it brought me all the way to the beach. I really like this board and perhaps getting one similar wouldn't be such a bad idea.
- After the session we had the usual great breakfast at People's.
- 1 sea lion on the outside.
- Threes, 6:30AM-7:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Only Eric out.
- Waist-high, from light to moderate winds, pretty choppy, not consistent with a few sets once in a while.
- Caught about 10 waves, all rights, with a few decent ones that took me all the way to the inside. It looked like the swell forecast for tomorrow was starting to fill in at times.
- After surfing in cold water, with a wetsuit, on a shorter board, I felt very strong today and paddled for everything that moved pretty successfully. The usual California-training effect.
- Good conversation out there with Eric during the many lulls.
- Threes, 6:15AM-7:45AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Eric came out, as well as a guy on an SUP for 1/2 the session.
- knee- to waist-high, windy, inconsistent, pretty weak. Overall worse than yesterday.
- Caught about 15 waves although at the beginning of the session I was starting to doubt I would catch any. But, as usual, a few sets came through. In fact, a very nice 3-wave chest-high set came out of nowhere toward the end of the session, but of course we weren't in position.
- Conditions seems to improve throughout the session, but the wind started to blow stronger as well, oddly enough. On my last wave I actually had a really fun drop, and once again felt pretty happy after spending time in the water.
- Best line of the morning: "Man, if tomorrow the forecasts doesn't say at least 3 feet, I'll just pop a viagra and go back to the horizontal boogie dance floor".
- Threes, 6:15AM-7:45AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Alone at first, then Jim, John, and older Jim.
- waist-high+, moderate wind. Much better than yesterday, with an especially good, consistent 1/2 hour.
- Caught about 15 waves, with several good rights and especially a nice almost chest-high one that was nicely lined-up. Screwed up a couple of late take-offs, and we missed the rare chest-high outside sets.
- Overall a very nice session, beautiful morning and nice conversations in the water with Jim, who, incidentally, last month had the privilege of surfing the last Super Ferry wave out here.
- Threes, 6:15AM-7:45AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Out with Jim, Eric, older Jim, and three other guys. Mitch for a while but he ended up paddling over to Paradise.
- knee- to waist-high, choppy, weak, inconsistent, pretty windy, ugly. Pretty much terrible conditions. So much for that supposed swell.
- Caught 10 "waves", with only one or two that provided what can be called a ride.
- This was one of the worst days I've seen out there, but at least there were a bunch of people to chat with.
- Flies, 6:30AM-8:15AM
- On my 9'6''.
- Paddled out with Justin. up to 2 other people out, including Jim.
- waist- to very occasional chest-high, not consistent but getting better with the tide dropping. Light winds and more or less glassy.
- Caught about 15 waves, with one nice chest-high one that was lined up. And in fact, I caught many waves all the way to the inside today, somewhat surprisingly. In fact, even some weak waist-high ones ended up having a decent inside section.
- Flies, 6:15AM-8:15AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Met up with Eric, Rick, Justin, and a few other people. Up to 10 people out at some point.
- waist- to occasional chest-high, not consistent, glassy.
- Met with Eric in the parking lot as we arrived together. Unfortunately he locked his keys inside his van, so he went back after meeting a friend who had a cellphone. So I paddled out alone, and was way to inside when the first decent set showed up.
- Overall probably better than yesterday but somehow I was a bit tired and didn't catch too many waves. Perhaps a total of 10. One of them was a great, great right, chest-high, really well-lined up, that brought me all the way in. I had a couple of other decent ones. But I paddled for many waves that I didn't catch.
- Nice conversation in the line-up with Rick who's going to spend 1 month in Italy this Summer.
- Caught a pretty nice wave and paddled in with Eric. We tried to find a coat hanger or some other way to get the keys out of his van, but no luck. Earlier he had left a message to his wife who was on her way so I left him there, in his trunks, in the parking lot.
- Flies, 6:15AM-8:15AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Met up with Eric, Rick, Justin, the usual weekend dawn patrollers because today was Good Friday, later Jordan and his shortboarder friend. From 5 to 10 people out overall.
- Waist- to occasional chest-high, very inconsistent, pretty week, glassy.
- Definitely weaker and less consistent than yesterday, but at least glassy.
- Caught about 20 waves, with none of the very occasional bigger chest-high ones. Those were mostly close-outs anyway, but there were a few that were absolutely perfect. Caught many waist-high rights, with a few decent ones that went all the way to the stairs. But mostly a lot of waiting on the inside.
- About halfway through, as I was paddling back with Rick from one of the long rides to the stairs, we saw a pretty horrifying scene. A bigger set came through and the second wave was a total close-out. Justin was right in the impact zone, and that other guy whom I'd never seen before tried to drop in. I don't really know what he was thinking because the wave was already closed out all the way. Furthermore, if at all it was more open on the left, but the guy went right basically right on top of Justin. The guy fell of the board of course since the take-off was unmakable and Justin dove deep. The guy's board went right over Justin's and it looked pretty bad really. I mean, even if the guy wanted to do a stupid take-off on a close-out for the heck of it, why do that when there's somebody in the impact zone right in front. Anyway, they got back on their board and Rick and I were pretty horrified. 5 minutes later I paddled over to Justin and although he felt there was no damage to his board I thought I saw a ding on the rail. And yes, there was a pretty big gash all the way through the foam. Quite the bummer.
- Toward the end I was getting pretty tired after paddling for so many measly waves. I opted to paddle for a pretty iffy one and ended up paddling my ass off for like 15-20 seconds to finally make it after much arching up and pushing down on the board. At that point I was so tired that I was barely able to get up on the board. It was pretty funny really.
- Apparently there was a pod of dolphins on the outside, but I never caught a glimpse of them.
- Flies, 10AM-11:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Eric. 4-5 other people out including Garry on his crazy 12ft yellow monster, and a couple of shortboarders on the inside including a guy riding a fish with much style.
- waist-high with a few very occasional bigger sets, light to moderate winds, not consistent.
- Caught perhaps 10 waves, with nothing too exciting. I was lucky to be exactly in the right spot on the only clean chest-high peak of the session and rode it all the way to the wall. Once again, one wave saves the session. Caught a few lefts that didn't really hold, and my last right wasn't too terrible but quasi closing out.
- Apparently it was great out here yesterday, but there was a contest going on, so good thing I decided to take the day off.
- Great morning out there, beautiful weather, nice conversations. After the session Eric and I had lunch at Kaka'ako kitchen, which was really good because during the entire session the smell of the hibachis on the shore was driving us nuts.
- Threes, 6:15AM-7:15AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Jim and Benoit, for his first surf session ever.
- knee-high, weak, choppy, ugly, supper inconsistent, moderate wind.
- A pretty horrible day out there, with pretty much only the 3 of us out in Waikiki besides the usual group at Canoes.
- Caught about 5-6 waves, if I dare call them waves.
- Benoit did ok actually, although paddling was pretty intense for him and I had to two him all the way back to shore at the end of the session. Jim just decided to paddle in actually, that's how bad it was.
- A pod of spinner dolphins outside, with much jumping/spinning action. Beautiful rainbow and sunrise.
- Flies, 6AM-7:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Benoit, for his second surf session ever. Later Justin on a funboard and another guy for the last 10 minutes of our session.
- knee- to waist-high, weak and incredibly inconsistent, with a few rare bigger sets. Pretty hard to read and get into the waves. Perfectly glassy and beautiful out there.
- Caught about 10 waves, with only two real ones, two decent waist-high+ ones that I was lucky enough to see coming. During the session one beautiful shoulder-high rogue wave came through, but of course I was inside.
- Pretty hard conditions for Benoit, but he managed to catch a few waves without really standing up.
- Justin paddled out on his funboard because both his longboards got damaged in the same way in two days. The first one I talked about in a previous report. The second one happened about the same way, at Flies, but more of a complete accident.
- At the end Jim was setting up on the shore and we met Eric who was coming from Threes and was going to just get wet again at Flies. Threes was lame and crowded. So I guess, all in all, Flies wasn't too bad a choice. We need waves at some point though!
- Flies, 6:30AM-8:15AM
- On my 9'6'', no leash.
- By myself. Up to 15 people out including quite a few SUPs.
- ankle- to knee-high, occ waist-high, very inconsistent and weak. Perfectly glassy.
- Pretty ridiculous out there today, but such a beautiful morning that I, and many others, decided to get wet.
- Caught 10 "waves", all pretty weak.
- Flies, 7:00AM-8:00AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. 3 people out including Rick and Justin, and alone at the end.
- waist- to occ. shoulder-high, glassy, a bit oddly shaped and wobbly, pretty inconsistent, no wind.
- Caught 5-6 waves, with a couple of fun moderately sized rights that went all the went it. Just as Justin was reaching the top of the stairs on his way to work I dropped in on a shoulder-high+ wave with an overhead peak and a decent first section.
- Overall a decent session although I was pretty tired after a short night and the beginning of an annoying cold.
- Flies, 6:15AM-8:10AM
- On my 9'6''.
- Paddled out with Justin and Jordan. At most 5 people out including Conrad and his friend Greg.
- waist- to occ. shoulder-high, glassy at first and later light on-shores, not very consistent, but better than yesterday although most bigger sets closed out.
- Caught about 15 waves, with 3-4 of good rights that lined up all the way to the stairs. Did a super steep take-off on a semi-close-out shoulder-high wave toward the end of the session and barely made it, which was sort of fun.
- One odd flying fish/eel in the line-up. Also, we were getting bitten by what Jordan called "sea fleas" (the day after Clarence said it was much more likely to be a jellyfish than "sea mites"). Pretty painful and then itchy for a while. Odd. Jordan said that for him it itches the whole day. Luckily for me it lasted only 5 minutes or so after each bite. At some point I had to put my leash on my knee because I had gotten bitten right under it.
- Overall a pretty decent session, although halfway through the conditions changed really noticeably, and not for the better.
- Threes, 6:30AM-7:45AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself, between 5 and 10 other people out including Jim, Doug, Ron, Mitch, Will, Clarence.
- Knee- to waist-high+, not very consistent, nicely shaped, glassy at first and light winds at the end of the session.
- Decided to go to Threes after checking Flies with Eric early on and seeing that it wasn't breaking.
- Caught about 10 waves, with a surprisingly nice solid left and a very nice solid right, plus a few smaller but always clean ones.
- Fun conversations in the water this morning, great vibe really. A couple of shortboarders on the inside, who likely weren't too happy with the loud "they all know each other" longboarders hogging the outside...
- 1 turtle on the outside.
- Flies, 6AM-8AM
- On my 9'6'', no leash.
- With Larry and Rob, the usual crew of 6-7 out.
- Knee- to waist-high, inconsistent, glassy initially and light winds at the end. A few sets every 20 minutes or so, nicely shaped.
- Caught 10+ waves, with a couple of small but fun rights that had a decent face.
- Nice conversations in the water, and it was just nice being out on a beautiful meeting.
- A pod of around 10 dolphins on the outside, which I saw as I was coming down the hill.
- Flies, 6AM-8AM
- On my 9'6'', no leash.
- By myself. The usual 10-people crew out.
- Knee-high, weak, inconsistent, very glassy.
- Beautiful morning out there, and I just paddled out because tomorrow morning I can't surf due to an early 8AM meeting.
- Caught 5-6 "waves". I guess it was a good workout to paddle like mad for these tiny things.
- Nice conversation in the water, meeting that guy Daniel whom I had seen before.
- A pod of around 10 dolphins on the outside.
- Flies, 6AM-8:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- Paddled out with Eric and Justin. Late Rick and Jim showed up, and at the end Conrad. As we got out of the water, Jay, Rob, Garry, Larry and a few others were paddling out.
- Knee- to waist-high+, glassy, very inconsistent but nicely shaped.
- Caught about 20 waves, with 4-5 fun rights that brought me all the way to the stairs. Waves were pretty slow today and with the long lulls in between the session was pretty contemplative. A lot of talking/joking in the line-up to pass the time. Absolutely stunning morning though.
- When I showed up Justin and Eric were looking at the line-up and there were a few suspect looking ripples on the outside. Eric was sort of psyching Justin out telling him it was a shark. That was hilarious. Justin ended up waiting for us as we went back to the car to get our boards.
- Flies, 6AM-8:45AM
- On my 9'6''.
- Paddled out with Eric. Up to 15 people out at some point, and then back down to five, including Justin, Larry, Rob, Rick, Jay, the other Rob, Jordan and his friend Derrick.
- waist- to shoulder-high, glassy, pretty consistent at first, then very inconsistent, and then back to being consistent.
- As usual many of the bigger waves were closing out, and especially the rights since the swell had so much East in it. And in fact, quite a few lefts stayed open.
- Caught about 30 waves, with a couple of fun rights and a few take-offs on head-high peaks. Many rides took me all the way to the stairs actually, but because of the angle of the swell I can't say that there were any outstanding waves. A lot of fun though on a beautiful morning.
- It was kind of surprising to see up to 15 people out in the line-up this morning, but after 7:30 it really emptied out. I guess it pays off to go for a marathon session. Feeling pretty tired as I am typing this.
- Flies, 6AM-8:20AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. from 4 to 12 people out including Eric, Justin, Jim, that guy Morad whom I just met today. There was a group of 5 that stayed on the left and were dropping in on each other.
- waist- to head-high+, glassy, pretty consistent overall in spite of a few long lulls here and there.
- Caught about 25 waves, with at least 10 really nice rights that stayed open and had a nice wall.
- This being Flies, several of the bigger sets closed out, especially with overhead peaks, but it was still possible to find really nice rides. I had only one wipe out, on a pretty steep but I think makable 7ft or so peak. I got to my feet but couldn't pull it off. I was held down quite a bit by that one, and Jim afterwards called it the "no guts, no glory" drop.
- Overall a very, very enjoyable session, with some energy in the water, no wind, and many good rides. What more to ask for?
- 1 pod of dolphins on the outside
- Canoes, 9:30PM-11:15PM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Larry. from 4 to 10 other people out, including Sean, whom Larry had met previously out there at night.
- Waist-high, glassy, beautiful moon, incredibly warm water.
- Caught about 15 waves, with 2 great lefts that went forever and 2 great rights. Really a wonderful night session with good visibility. A bit crowded at time, but ok.
- There was one guy out that was incredible. Local dude, talking a lot, yelling in glee and clapping as he was catching waves. Then he would call out waves for people yelling something that sounded like "oink oink oink". He would randomly give yoda-like advice to hapless people sitting in the line-up ("look at the shadows... they're not shadows...they're waves"). We were all laughing most of the time, he was pretty outrageous. At some point some guy on an SUP showed up in the line, and the crazy guy pretty much told him to fuck off. They talked for a while and the crazy guy wasn't having none of it. Afterward he told us: "you guys have to speak up too, fuck them paddleboarders!" He was a really good surfer though. As I was paddling back from a good right he caught a wave and did a cutback right next to me. There was a bodyboarder taking pictures in the water, and I saw his flash go off right then... It would be cool to see that picture.
- Flies, 6AM-8AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Larry. Up to 9 people out, including Justin, Eric, Conrad, and Jim.
- Waist- to chest-high, glassy, clean, pretty consistent initially and then losing consistency and size toward the end.
- Caught 10-12 waves, including one really nice and open slightly below chest right that brought me all the way in and on which I was able to trim nicely.
- I wasn't too terribly out of shape, although toward the end I missed 2 waves that I really should've been able to paddle into.
- Everybody was talking about how incredible the Summer had been this time around.
- There had been a sewer spill at Flies the day before, and there was a warning sign that everybody ignored. That probably was a little bit stupid, but oh well... we'll see.
- Flies, 6AM-7:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Eric. Up to 7 people out including Justin, Ruddy, and a guy on an SUP.
- waist- to chest-high+, some texture in the water, not very clean but some nicely lined-up waves once in a while, not super consistent, gray skies.
- Caught about 15 waves, including 3-4 pretty nice rights, including my last wave.
- I definitely felt the time off today, being pretty tired after paddling back to the line-up.
- Flies, 6AM-8AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Larry on his fish. Up to 5-6 people out, including Morad, Justin, Eric.
- waist- to chest-high+, pretty windy, not consistent, not very clean, but the occasional clean set and clean section on the inside.
- Caught about 15 waves, including 2-3 very fun rights. Still not in great paddling shape. Very long lulls toward the end of the session.
- Threes, 6AM-7:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Up to 10 people out including Mitch and Clarence, but most others staying on the inside.
- knee- to waist-high, not consistent, windy at the end of the session.
- Not a great day out there, that's for sure, but still the occasional set of waist-high waves coming through.
- Caught about 15 waves, with one rather fun right that I shared with Clarence, and a couple of other decent ones if not to write home about. Good conversations in the water. Pleasant atmosphere. Clarence was talking about how crowded it was during the Summer (70 people out on a Thursday morning at some point!).
- waist- to chest-high+, pretty windy, not consistent, not very clean, but the occasional clean set and clean section on the inside.
- Flies, 6AM-8AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Justin. Up to 10 people out initially, including Rick and Randy, and the Coast Guard crew, one guy on an SUP. Then down to only 3 toward the end.
- waist-high+ with a few head-high sets. No consistent but reasonably clean. Light winds.
- Caught about 20 waves.
- It was an odd session for me. Initially I didn't catch much at all, in part due to the crowd. Then halfway through the session I had a patch during which I caught 5 or 6 absolutely great rights in a row, all open and with some power, making the others jealous. So overall a really good session and quite the workout.
- Toward the end Justin and I, and that other guy, were the only ones out, and we made the mistake of trying to get just one last wave. It seemed all dead and flat, due to the tide coming in, and we were getting ready to paddle back in. Then, out of nowhere, a head-high+ set showed up. We were too far inside. As I tried to paddle over it it was clear I was right in the impact zone. I turtled over 2 waves, lost my board on the second one, and on the third, bigger wave, I just ditched the board since nobody was around and dove down. As the wave was getting over me I felt the leash snap. The other guy out retrieved my board for me and I paddled in. The wave was big but nothing crazy. I guess the leash was old... Anyway, it's now time to go get a new one.
- Intense rainbow halfway through the session.
- Flies, 7:30AM-8AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. The usual 5-6 guy crew out.
- Knee- to waist-high, a bit windy, pretty weak but getting better as the tide was going out.
- Paddled out in spite of my hand hurting from working too much on the computer yesterday. After catching two waves it was clear it wasn't a good idea. I had a very hard time paddling with my right hand. So I just went home. We'll see how that thing develops. I hope it's not carpal tunnel.
- Flies, 4PM-5PM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. 3 people out, including one SUP.
- Knee- to waist-high, a bit windy, sort of weak with the tide coming up, but some waves.
- Caught about 10 waves, with a couple of decent rides including the last one, on which I decided to end this "back in the water" short session. Most rides were pretty short though with the wave dying off in deep water.
- Flies, 6:15AM-7:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Larry. Nobody else out.
- knee- to waist-high, light winds, pretty much killed by the high tide even though the coming swell was showing enough that there were a few waves.
- Caught 10 waves, including 2 surprising decent rights. The spot's definitely going to work nicely with a lower tide today. We decided to go out this morning in spite of the tide hoping that the swell would overcome it, which is did a little bit at times.
- Very mellow session, with just the two of us out. Although he was riding his fish, Larry managed to catch several waves.
- Flies, 6AM-7:15AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Eric. up to 12 people out including Justin and Jordan.
- waist-high+ with a few head-high sets, light winds, much weakened by the rising tide.
- Caught about 10 waves, with a couple of good ones, including a surprisingly small waist-high one that I barely got into but then that walled up nicely on the inside. The high tide really made it difficult today, and the crowd didn't help either although the vibe was super mellow and friendly.
- At about 7:15 I managed to catch a wave that brought me to the jetty, and so did Justin right behind me. After considering for a minute we opted for getting out of the water, with the tide rising and all.
- Flies, 5:45AM-7:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. up to 8 people out including Justin, two of the usual crew, and at the end Jordan and his friend.
- Waist-high to shoulder-high, inconsistent and weakening as the tide rose, pretty glassy.
- The expectation was that it would be better than yesterday with the swell filling in and the tide lower, but although the best waves were better than yesterday, the overall conditions were extremely inconsistent with many non-breaking waves. I managed to be the first one out this morning and to catch a wave with nobody in the water.
- Caught about 12 waves, including two great shoulder-high ones that stayed open until the very last section. Not sure how that happened, good karma I guess, but I was in perfect position on two of the best waves of the day I think. The second one in particular held very nicely and the ride was super fun, riding the top section of wave as it was barely holding all the way to the inside.
- Very mellow vibe out there, nice conversations in the line-up.
- Flies, 5:45AM-7:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Up to 10 people out including Justin, Jay, Morad, some of the usual crew, 2 SUPs.
- waist- to shoulder-high+, glassy, getting less and less consistent with the tide rising, but better than yesterday. Fair amount of close-outs, but many open waves as well.
- Caught about 15 waves, including 2 great rights.
- I was the first one out and managed to catch a great wave, close to head-high, the best I had during the session actually, while everybody was still paddling out. Super steep but holding wall, making each section on a super-high line. Just a great wave. I had another one, not as big, but super clean as well, later in the session. Those two waves were really the highlight.
- At some point Justin had an almost collision with an SUPer who let his board go on a close-out.
- Overall a beautiful morning out there.
- Flies, 6AM-7:45AM
- On my 9'6'', no leash.
- With Larry. Up to 5-6 people out and at the end only 3, including Eric and Justin.
- Waist-high with a chest-high sets throughout. Not very consistent but much better than it looked from the shore. Glassy.
- Caught about 10 waves, with nothing special.
- I spent the first 1/2 our of the session goofing off, trying (very unsuccessfully) to catch waves tail first. That was exhausting and didn't work well. Then Larry and I swapped boards. So I was on his 6'6'' fish for 1/2 hour. Pretty exhausting too, although I managed to catch two waves. I had a pretty hard time getting that board going though. Still, a great experience.
- When Larry and I swapped boards back we were on the inside, which in retrospect wasn't a good idea. As soon as I got back on my 9'6'' I saw this bigger set on the horizon. I barely made it over it while Larry, of course, remained stuck on the inside. Pretty funny really.
- Toward the end of the session, back on my boards, I caught a few decent waves. But Eric definitely got the wave of the day. A solid chest-high one that came out of nowhere and for which he was in perfect position.
- Beautiful morning out there, very mellow vibe.
- Threes, 6:15AM-7:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Larry and Patrick (on my 9'2''). Jim and some other guy I've seen before were out.
- Knee-high, weak and not consistent. Light winds and messy at first and super glassy for the second half of the session.
- Caught about 10 waves, with an almost waist-high right that was decent. Nothing to write home about.
- Patrick was visiting Honolulu from San Diego for 2 days and we managed to hook up for a session, which was great. According to this journal, the last time I surfed with him was on Feb 5th 2005! It was too bad that there weren't more waves, but at least it was pleasant being in the water. Larry even managed to catch waves on his fish.
- Overall a very mellow and beautiful morning, also there was a squall from 5:45 until 6:10 which didn't bode well for the session.
- Flies, 7AM-9AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Up to 6-7 people out including Jay, his friend James , some of the usual weekend crew, and Jim at the end.
- Waist-high+, moderate to pretty strong winds, not very consistent and many non-breaking waves in spite of the dropping tide.
- Caught about 20 waves, which a couple of pseudo-decent rights, but waves were really tapering off quickly today. Toward the end of the session it really got windy, with white-capping in the line-up.
- Pleasant conversations in the line-up. James had brought a young kid out on a foamie who was still learning but was a paddling machine. Pretty impressive. Jay said that at some point he lost his board and swan butterfly to get it. He's going to be scary in a few years.
- Threes, 6AM-7AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Jim, Steve, and one other guy out.
- Knee- to occasional waist-high, weak, rising tide, light wind with texture in the water.
- Pretty weak today. Caught about 5-6 waves, with only one pseudo-decent right. There was only one real set, and of course we were all inside and missed it. Beautiful morning though and nice conversation.
- Flies, 6AM-8AM
- On my 9'6'', no leash.
- By myself. The usual crew out, about 8 people.
- Waist-high with a few bigger ones, not consistent and many non-breaking waves, a bit choppy.
- Caught about 20 waves, with many small weak ones and a couple of decent ones considering the conditions. After looking at it for 15 minutes I almost decided not to paddle out. But I did anyway, and as usual I had more fun than not. I swapped board with one of the guys out there who was riding an SUP. Standing on that thing was pretty tiring given the choppy conditions, a huge leg workout.
- Of course, as I got off my board to go swim and check out the fish (I had taken my goggles with me in case I got bored), a nice set came through and I totally missed it. I still managed to get a last wave in in spite of the rising tide.
- Great vibe, nice conversations in the water, and in the end a pretty good workout given the small waves.
- Queens, 9PM-10PM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Larry, Conrad, and Rob.
- waist-high, super clean if a tad mushy, not very consistent, light winds.
- Caught about 8 waves, including 3 great rights. Really one of the best night sessions I've had. Visibility was good even though the moon wasn't full yet. Some of the sets coming through were good and glistening in the moonlight, with waves holding for long rides. Some even had some punch and were a bit higher than waist-high.
- Pops, 9PM-11PM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Larry, Conrad, and Dave.
- waist- to chest-high, not consistent at all, not clean, many non-breaking waves, a moderate winds, but still some nice sets.
- Caught about 15 waves, with 2-3 very nice rights with pretty fun take-offs in the dark.
- As usual, quite the experience out there. First time out at Pops at night, which felt a bit wild especially with the wind.
- At the end of the session Dave and I paddled back to Canoes, which was a bit of a workout, to find it really lame. Waves broke outside, but didn't have a nice shape at all and had no power.
- Flies, 9:30AM-10:45AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself, 4-5 people out.
- waist- to head-high, not consistent, really windy and choppy, some good sets but the bigger ones closed out.
- Caught about 15 waves, with 2-3 nice rights, including my last one that brought me to the stairs. I didn't surf very well at all, and fell on a couple of waves early on. I hadn't surfed choppy conditions like this in a while, and the adjustment wasn't easy. There were a few clean-up sets that came a bit out of nowhere. It was fun being in the water with some actual wave power, and I sort of lamely backed out of a few sketchy take-offs.
- After putting my board back on the car I realized that I had most likely pulled a pectoral muscle. Hopefully it's not going to keep me out of the water.
- Flies, 10:30AM-12PM
- On my 7'6''.
- By myself, 3 people out, including a knee-boarder.
- waist-high, not consistent, not very clean, a bit choppy.
- I was out for a few days due to that pulled muscle, and today I decided to paddle out on my 7'6'' for the first time since August 2007!!
- Caught about 8 waves, with take-offs a bit tentative at first and much better as the session went on. The conditions were pretty lame, so of course it didn't help, and there was very little wave face so the board couldn't do much at all. Still, I was pretty happy with the way I felt on it. I botched only one late take-off.
- What a work-out though to go from the 9'6'' behemoth to the 7'6''. And that 7'6'' is still pretty thick and wide. In the end, I don't know... it felt pretty good to be on a shorter board, and going mid-morning I avoided all long-boarders (I had the biggest board out of the people out). Some of the take-offs felt really good. Sometimes I was longing for my longboard. Perhaps I'll take this one out more often. More often than once every 2 years!
- Flies, 10:30AM-12:15PM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself, alone for a while, then one lonboarder out, then two shortboarders (a dad teaching his son), and at the end a 2nd longboarder.
- waist-high+, inconsistent, bumpy, not very clean.
- I Waited until the tide got lower and got in the water just when it started to break.
- Caught about 20 waves, with a couple of nice rights. Many smaller waves but a few bigger sets.
- My last wave was by far the best one, and it took me quite a ways in. Able to do a few maneuvers on that one.
- Overall it was odd being on a longboard even after only one session on the 7'6''. Took about 4-5 take-offs to adapt.
- Nice mid-morning session, with mellow vibe in the water and stunning weather.
- Flies, 6:15AM-7:30AM
- On my 9'6'', no leash.
- With Larry. Just the two of us out for a while and then then usual crew.
- Waist-high, inconsistent and getting worse as the tide rose, pseudo-glassy most of the time.
- Caught about 10 waves, with a couple of ok ones, but the quickly rising tide made everything pretty mushy. Toward the end it got pretty lame and we paddled in. There were still a few waves once an again though.
- Flies, 5PM-6:15PM
- On my 7'6''
- With Larry, Conrad, and Greg, nobody out but for two SUPs early on.
- knee-high, horribly inconsistent with perhaps 5-6 breaking waves the whole session in spite of the dropping tide. Sort of choppy too.
- Just went out completely randomly not expecting much, and not getting much in the end. Although Larry caught 2 waves early on on his fish, the rest of us were shut out for ever. In fact, Greg and Conrad didn't catch one wave and paddled in. Right after that I caught 3 pseudo-waves, which was sort of amazing given the conditions and the board.
- Toward the end, it was so weak that boar wakes created all sorts of criss-crossing waves in the line-up.
- Beautiful sunset though. Sort of a soulful session in a way, just being in the water and watching the sunset was kind of cool.
- Haleiwa, 6:30AM-8:30AM
- On my 8'8''
- With Larry, Conrad, John, and Gloria. From 10 to 20 people out.
- chest-high with a few head-high sets, very fat and slow, tide rising, not consistent, glassy.
- It was extremely hard to catch waves today and it was definitely longboard/SUP day. Caught 4 waves only. Luckily my last one brought me right to the beach in the right spot.
- It was fun being in the water, but since most waves didn't break it got frustrating, especially when finding oneself on the inside of the rare bigger sets. Oh well.
- Several turtles in the line-up.
- Flies, 6:15AM-7:30AM
- On my 9'6'', no leash.
- With Larry. Also out were Conrad, Justin, Eric, Rick, Jay, Greg, and later Amy.
- knee-high, super inconsistent and weak, perfectly glassy.
- Pretty clear nothing much was going to happen today in spite of the reasonable forecast, but we paddled out anyway. It ended up being a goofy fun session during which we attempted to have as many people per wave as possible (we managed at best 4 people on a wave). Fun conversations in the water, some about this blog which means I need to be careful about what I write now... so anyway, I totally shredded today with around 10 waves :)
- Amazing weather this morning and a pretty good way to start the day in spite of the lack of waves.
- Flies, 6AM-8AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself, up to 25 people including Jay, Justin, the usual crew and many others attracted by the swell forecast.
- waist- to occ. chest-high, glassy, not consistent.
- Caught about 15 waves, with nothing really special. The crowd was definitely impressive but the swell hadn't really showed up.
- Morad and his friend were in the water taking turns taking pictures with the full gear (helmet, fins).
- A pretty mellow session, with good conversation in the water, even though the crowd was a bit much.
- Flies, 6AM-8AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Larry, up to 15 people out, including Jay, Justin, Conrad. 3 SUPs paddled out toward the end of the session.
- chest- to 1-ft overhead, glassy, not very consistent with several long lulls.
- Caught 6 waves, almost all of them outstanding. In fact, my first wave was head-high, completely open, and took me all the way to the inside. Every section was makable until the end. My last wave in was a close-out, but I took it anyway because I was just getting tired and Larry had already gotten out of the water.
- Morad and his friend were there again taking pictures, not sure if they got a shot of me or not. Not sure I want to see it.
- The beginners from yesterday were out today, on foam boards. Let's just say they didn't stay long.
- During big sets, the channel was closing out. Paddling out had to be timed well. On my next-to-last wave I was debating whether to go back out for a last wave or not. That's when Justin went in after doing his "surf around the jetty" thing. Right then one of the biggest sets loomed on the outside and the channel closed out at 6-ft. Some guy had just paddled out an was right next to me on a shortboard. I turned over and managed to hang onto my board, while he duck-dived. Not sure what happened but his board was snapped in half and his leash broke. The guy hadn't been in the water for more than 1 minute! I managed to make it outside quite quickly and Jay and I were basically on our own for 10 minutes.
- Flies, 7:15AM-9AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. 3-4 other people out including Carl, Eric, and Patrick.
- waist-high+, moderate winds and a bit of chop, getting less and less consistent. Got a late start after sleeping in a bit.
- We definitely witnessed the end of the swell today. Caught maybe 10 waves, none of which stayed very open or had much size. The shape was a bit odd and I didn't surf very well. My first wave of the day was decent though.
- Nice conversation in the water.
- Flies, 4:45PM-5:30PM
- On my 9'6'', no leash.
- With Larry. Nobody out.
- knee-high, extremely weak and barely breaking.
- This was just a way to get wet on a hot day.
- Caught 3 waves total, with the last one almost like a real wave.
- Tongs, 6:30AM-8:15AM
- On my 9'6''
- With Olivia on my 9'2''. 4-5 people out including SUPs.
- waist-high+, very odd, hard to read waves, but some breaking.
- Caught about 10 waves. Nothing great, but four a couple of decent one. A few late take-offs on close-outs that I didn't see coming. The joy of going to a "new" spot. Really a hard wave to read and definitely not a good spot to bring a beginner to. Olivia managed to catch a little bit of white water on the inside, but it wasn't really a good session for her. Flies would have been better but it was barely breaking.
- A few very good SUPers in the line-up, including that guy riding an 8'0'' who was very impressive. Very mellow vibe in the line-up, and we talked a bit with a guy whose mother's from Tahiti and who spoke French quite well.
- At least it was a beautiful morning.
- Queens, 8:30PM-10:15PM
- On my 9'6''
- With Larry, Conrad, and 3 friends of theirs. 1 other guy out at first, and then 2 others much later.
- waist-high, glassy, not super consistent, with at times very poor visibility due to the clouds and the vog (and the half-moon).
- Caught about 15 waves, with 2-3 pretty fun ones that took me way far in and had some juice.
- The session started with a pretty heavy vibe. As I got to the spot first there was a single guy out there, and yes, it must have sucked for him to see 6 people paddle out and ruin his soulful night session. I said "hello" and was met with dead silence. Then, as he paddled for a wave he told Conrad: "get out of the way brother". So the vibe got instantly a bit aggro. We let him have his pick of waves and he paddled back in after about 1/2 hour. That was good because there were many 1-wave sets and with an aggro guy out that doesn't leave much space. Later on two other guys came out, the total opposite, talking and hooting in the line-up.
- Toward the end of the session the lack of visibility really got ridiculous and we managed to get waves in.
- Flies, 6:15AM-7:45AM
- On my 9'6'', no leash.
- With Olivia on my 9'2''. Eric was out. A beginner was out for 1/2 hour as well.
- waist-high, glassy, somewhat consistent and clean if not powerful.
- Conditions were surprisingly fun given the forecast. Eric thought it was a Northwest swell wrap making its way to the South Shore.
- Caught about 15 waves, with a couple of pretty fun ones.
- Olivia caught about 5 waves, which was pretty good for perhaps the 10th session in her life.
- Absolutely stunningly beautiful sunrise and morning. The trades are back and the vog's gone.
- Flies, 7AM-9AM
- On my 9'6''
- By myself, with only Eric out for a while, and then Amy and Brian.
- Waist- to chest-high, light offshores, super-high tide killing most waves and causing long lulls.
- Caught 6-7 waves, with nothing too exciting but a couple of decent ones.
- Sort of gray morning with very little sun.
- Flies, 6:30AM-8:15AM
- On my 9'6''
- By myself, up to 6-7 people out, including Eric, Amy, Jim, Carl, that guy Erwin whom Eric knew and who's a coffee grower in Kona.
- waist- to head-high, light winds initially and getting windier as time went on, very high tide but enough size that it was breaking much more consistently than yesterday in spite of quite a few close-outs.
- Caught about 15 waves, with a couple nice rights that brought me all the way to the stairs.
- Toward the end, even though the tide was dropping, conditions seem to deteriorate and I just caught a small wave in.
- Flies, 7:30AM-9AM
- On my 9'6''
- By myself, up to 12 people out including Eric, Erwin, Jim, Amy.
- Waist- to head-high, moderate winds, a bit choppy and disorganized, and not very consistent to boot, but still nice sets once in a while with a couple overhead although those closed-out often.
- Caught about 10 waves, with a couple of ok smaller ones that had nice shape, and a pretty good left, somehow.
- The lack of consistency got annoying toward the end and I paddled in, but overall it was a pretty fun session.
- Flies, 6:45AM-8:45AM
- On my 9'6''
- With Larry. Only the usual 5/6-guy crew out there.
- Waist- to chest-high, light winds, overall more organized than yesterday if smaller in size. The high tide, once again, wasn't helping although sets still broke. There were kind of two peaks, like in the days before which made it so that we were completely spread out. At the end of the session it was only the two of us. Surprisingly uncrowded for conditions that really weren't bad at all.
- Caught about 15 waves, including a couple of really fun, surprisingly juicy, rights with many makable sections.
- Overall a very enjoyable, mellow session with great vibe in the water, great weather, and the occasional good wave.
- Flies, 6:30-8AM
- On my 9'6''
- With Larry. Eric came out eventually. Nobody else out.
- Waist-high with bigger peaks, pseudo-glassy with light winds, very weak due to the high tide, not consistent.
- Caught about 10 waves, with nothing special. A few botched late take-offs on sneak waves.
- Although it looked completely dismal, we actually were able to catch waves today. After 10 days without getting in the water, it was pretty good to get wet.
- Queens, 8:45PM-10PM
- On my 9'6''
- With Larry. One other guy out for the first 1/2 hour.
- Knee- to waist-high, glassy with light winds, pretty weak but sort of consistent at first even though it was dead toward the end of the session.
- Caught 5-6 waves, with nothing very exciting. My shoulder, which I hurt while hiking a week ago, was still bothering me and I had a hard time generating paddling power. But still, good to be in the water on a beautiful (if a bit cold) evening under the moonlight.
- Queens, Pops, 9PM-11PM
- On my 9'6''
- With Larry and Conrad. up to 5 other guys at Queens, nobody at Pops.
- Ankle- to knee-high, absolutely perfectly glassy, weak and not very consistent.
- Caught about 5-6 waves at Queens with a couple of ok ones. The vibe was really friendly and mellow, but after 1/2 hour we decided to paddle over to pops. Not much happening there but we caught a few waves there are well. Eventually paddled back to Canoes and caught a wave in.
- Overall a very mellow and soulful session in unbelievable conditions (besides the waves themselves, that is).
- Flies, 6:30AM-8AM
- On my 9'6''
- By myself. Up to 10 people out, including the usual guys, 1 SUP.
- Waist- to Chest-high, not very consistent but not bad, light texture in the water, unfortunately impacted by the high tide (curse you morning high tide!)
- Caught about 10 waves, with a couple of fun ones. Conditions are sure to improve as the tide goes down, but today I had to proctor an exam at the University and so was forced to do a high-tide session.
- Beautiful morning out there, mellow vibe in the water. Good times. Just happy my arm isn't bothering me too much anymore and that I can be back in the water.
- Flies, 9:15AM-10:30AM
- On my 9'6''
- By myself. Only David out for a while, and then two other guys toward the end.
- Waist- to Chest-high, glassy, getting better as the tide dropped, occasional nice sets coming in, pretty consistent.
- Decided to go out this morning although I should really have caught up on work. Turns out it was a good call. Caught about 15 waves, with at the end a nice one with a chest-high wall that peeled all the way to the inside. Many other pretty fun waves.
- Beautiful weather, glassy conditions, nice conversations in the water with people letting each other catch waves. Met David, whom I had seen many times before. Toward the end an outside set came and that guy let me have it. It was the best ride of the morning for me, and after catching a small one in I decided to call it a session.
- Threes, 6:15AM-7:30AM
- On my 9'6''
- With Larry. Only Jim out, and some guy on an outrigger canoe for a few minutes.
- knee- to occasionally waist-high, glassy, nicely shaped but not consistent.
- Caught about 8 waves, with my last one in pretty fun actually. Probably getting better as the tide dropped.
- Nothing too exciting, but a beautiful morning and mellow vibe in the water and fun conversations of course. Good to get wet right before flying off to freezing France for almost a month!