- Tongs, 2:30PM-3:30PM
- On my 9'6'', no leash.
- With Rich. About 15 people out in total, which was way too many considering the number of rideable waves.
- knee-high+, not very consistent, light winds.
- Caught 3-4 waves, nothing too exciting. Great to be back in the water after such a long hiatus though. Absolutely out of paddling shape, unsurprisingly.
- Queens, 8:15PM-9:15PM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Larry and Dave, nobody else out.
- knee-high+, super glassy, not very consistent but some waves coming through.
- Caught about 10 waves, with a couple of fun rights, considering.
- As usual, very pleasant, beautiful moon and calm weather. Found out that Larry has a 5-year full moon surfing streak going!
- Diamond Head, 8AM-9:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Rich. About 15 people out, but quite spread out.
- waist-high, not super consistent but some waves, light winds getting stronger as time went on.
- It had been ages since I surfed at Diamond Head, and this morning was a pretty good choice. We stayed off the main peak and missed the "best" waves, but still got a decent share.
- Caught about 12 waves, a couple of fun rights that were reasonably long.
- Old Man's, 10AM-11AM
- On my 9'6'', no leash.
- With Bryson. Nobody out but canoes.
- Ankle-high, absolutely terrible, strong winds.
- Just paddled out to be in the water and stayed WAY inside of the actual spot. Caught 2 non-waves.
- 1 turtle during the paddle back
- Queens, 8:30PM-9:15PM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Larry, Conrad, and Dave.
- Knee-high+, inconsistent, low-period messy crumbly wind swell, no wind but rain at the end of the session.
- Caught 3 waves, with only one reasonable one.
- Really cold and drizzly once back on the beach, had to run to the car.
- Old Man's, 10AM-11AM
- On my 9'6'', no leash.
- By myself. Only a few canoes out.
- Knee-high+, not consistent, moderate winds.
- Just paddled out to get wet. Caught 3 waves. The last one caught me by surprised as I was paddling back to shore by the flag.
- Flies, 5:30PM-6:30PM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Larry. Around 5 people out.
- Moderate winds, not super consistent by head-high peaks coming through once in a while (somewhat surprisingly).
- Caught 4-5 waves, including a great right with a steep but holding section, and another right toward the end of the session that was almost a close-out but ended up holding and allowed for a few high lines before bottom-turning around small closed out sections, all the way to the jetty.
- Quite an unexpected session really, with the nicest waves I have surfed in months (unsurprisingly given the season and my lack of water time).
- Flies, 11AM-12:20AM
- On my 9'6'', no leash
- With Larry. Nobody out.
- Waist-high+, not super clean or consistent, but decent, light winds.
- Caught about 10 waves, with a couple of very nice ones (all rights).
- Pretty out of shape for paddling, and got "stuck" on the inside a couple of time.
- Flies, 9AM-10:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Martin and Armele.
- Waist-high+, somewhat consistent and clean, and getting gradually less clean as the sessions progressed.
- Caught 5-6 waves, with a couple of decent rights.
- It was Martin's and Armele first time ever on a surfboard. Armele lost her sunglasses right away in the water.
- Flies, 8:30AM-10:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Rich. Up to 10 people out.
- Waist-high+, super inconsistent, but not too bad when the sets would come.
- Caught about 10 rights, several of them pretty fun. Somehow, in spite of being super out of shape I got great wave karma today.
- Flies, 8:30AM-10:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Two other people out.
- Waist-high, very inconsistent, a few waves coming through.
- Caught about 10 rights, with 2 or 3 decent ones. Nothing to report.
- Flies, 8:30AM-10:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Up to 6 other people out (including Carl and Patrick)
- Waist-high+, not consistent with long waits.
- Caught about 10 waves, with 2-3 good rights that took me all the way to the stairs.
- Really tired at the end of the session and had a hard time catching one in.
- Tongs, 6:15AM-7:15AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Mahdi and his brother. Up to 20 people out.
- Waist-high+, somewhat consistent, but way too many people given the number of waves.
- Caught about 5 waves, all lefts, with a decent one. The other ones were on the weak side.
- It was Mahdi's brother's first session, and of course he found paddling absolutely exhausting.
- Flies, 3:45AM-4:45AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Larry, up to 15 people out including Patrick
- Waist- to shoulder-high waves, pretty consistent and lined up.
- Caught about 8 waves, with a couple of pretty outstanding rights that took me to the stairs.
- Flies, 8:30AM-9:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Only Amy and I out for 1/2 hour, and then up to 5 people out.
- The first half hour was glassy, with up to head-high peaks. The bigger waves closed out of course, but some of the shoulder-high were pretty nice. Right after paddling to the line-up, got caught by an outside set, taking 4 waves on the head, and taking forever to go back to the line-up. Not a great start of the session. Then I caught 3-4 nice ones before others started paddling out, at which point the conditions deteriorated massively into inconsistent, waist-high junk. Amy and I attributed the good half hour to the famed "tide push".
- Flies, 8:00AM-9:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Mike, Phil, and Thomas (1st session). Only one other guy out.
- Waist- to shoulder-high, glassy, consistent until 9AM, then junky and windier as the tide came up.
- Caught tons of fun waves today, probably more than 20. Several super fun rights, if not very big. It had been a long time since I had seen it that glassy. Absolutely fun. I cannot believe nobody was out.
- Thomas spent a lot of time paddling, as expected. Mike did a bit better as he had surfed a few times before.
- Saw Eric in the parking lot! I hadn't seen him in ages.
- Flies, 8:30AM-9:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. up to 6 other people out including Carl, Jim, and Phil.
- Waist-high, not very consistent and bumpy due to some wind.
- Caught 6-7 waves, nothing to report really. Sort of a letdown after the previous sessions.
- Flies, 8:15AM-9:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Up to 6 people out, including Eric and Jim.
- Waist- to chest-high waves, with a few head-high peaks, nice and consistent at first and degrading as the wind picked up.
- Caught about 8 waves, with a few fun ones, but in particular and absolutely outstanding right. I took off a bit deep and thought that as usual the second steep section would close out in front of me. Surprisingly, it stayed barely open and taking a super high line I was able to make it through although it was getting quite vertical. Some guy on the 3rd section was ready to drop in because of the typical close-out, but pulled back as I zipped through that 3rd section again on a very high-line, eventually cutting back a bit to weave my way to the inside. Definitely the best wave I have surfed in at least a year. The one after was even better, and that guy whom I've seen before a few times had a fantastic ride. While my cutback were rather smooth and non-radical, his were quite brutal on his 9ft board. Only two waves on that set, and definitely the waves of the day.
- Flies, 8:30AM-10:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Up to 8 people out, including Carl, Rohan, and Lorenzo on a short board.
- Waist- to occasional chest-high waves, not as good and consistent as yesterday by a long shot.
- Caught about 15 waves and overall got a huge workout. A couple of the smaller rights were fun and clean, but the bigger ones, unlike yesterday, weren't that great. A few nice ones came through but I wasn't in position.
- Great vibe/conversation in the water.
- Flies, 8:30AM-10AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Up to 6-7 other people out including Jim and Patrick.
- Waist- to chest-high, choppy, messy, windy, but, somehow, still some waves coming through.
- Caught 6-7 waves, with one very nice one halfway through the session, with the typical bottom turn around the close-out section and then connecting to the inside. My best wave overall was my last one. Just when I saw 7 people get in the water at the stairs and thought that it was time to go home, I was in perfect position for that chest-high wave that held all the way to the jetty with really fun if a bit bumpy sections. Really good way to end the session.
- At the end, Jim was on the inside by the jetty, trying to catch a small one that would allow him to go around the tip of the jetty back to the stairs.
- Diamond Head (Cliffs), 9:45-10:30
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Around 25 people out.
- Waist-high+, typical peaky/windy conditions
- Caught 3 waves, all rather short-lived even though the take-off was fun.
- Hadn't surfed Diamond Head in years, and this morning it seemed like a good option given the tide and waves. I had almost forgotten what kind of surfing that was, with shifting peaks and choppy conditions, yet rideable.
- Flies, 10AM-11:45AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. 6 other people out including a couple of beginners and Conrad.
- Waist-high+, sort of consistent but oddly shaped with several "doubles", winds increasing throughout the session.
- Caught about 10 waves, with two really fun rights that held and allows for a nice section after the first bottom turn. Quite fun take-offs too as the wave was jacking up a little. The swell had quite a bit of West in it, and the spot thus behaved quite differently from the typical South Swell days.
- 1 sea turtle in the line-up
- Flies, 9AM-10:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Nobody out.
- Waist-high, very inconsistent, getting weaker as the tide came in.
- Caught about 10 waves, with a couple of fun ones. Great session to get back into things as I could tell that my take-offs sort of sucked (more than usual, that is).
- One turtle on the outside
- Queens, 8:30PM-10PM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Larry, Dave, and 5-6 friends of Larry's. Up to 15 people out at the end.
- Waist-high, clean, not very consistent, light winds, and nice full moon for most of the session.
- Caught about 10 waves, with 5-6 really fun rights. Surprisingly good really, especially given how windy/rainy it was all day.
- One of the rights was so nice that I rode it too far in and found myself in super shallow water.
- Flies, 9:30AM-10:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Up to 18 people out including Patrick.
- waist- to shoulder-high, clean, not very consistent.
- Caught 6 waves, including 2 absolutely great rights, the second of which took me to the stairs. At that point I figured that I had to end on a high note and bailed. Great short session. The crowd was a bit annoying, but not too bad.
- Old Man's, 9AM-10AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. 3-4 people out and 5-6 SUPers
- waist-high, hardly breaking, not consistent
- Paddled out for the hell of it since I was on the beach with Genevieve.
- Caught 3 non-waves, but it was good to get in the water and paddle around and paddle around.
- Diamond Head, Cliffs, 9:30AM-10:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. around 10 people out.
- waist-high, typical, moderate winds, peaky, etc.
- Caught about 5-6 waves, with a couple of decent rights with fun take-offs.
- Old Man's, 3PM-4:15PM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. 4-5 people out.
- Waist-high, very inconsistent with most waves not breaking.
- Caught 3-4 pseudo-waves, with only 1 that would have qualified as a real ride.
- Still, nice to be out while Genevieve was on the beach.
- One turtle in the line-up
- Flies, 8AM-9:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Up to 15 people out including Patrick, Jim, and Jennai
- Waist- to chest-high+, long waits, moderate winds
- Caught 5 waves, all of them fun, and especially the last one that brought me to the stairs. Somehow, in spite of many close-outs and doubles, I managed to catch chest-high waves that were all lined up nicely. Good wave karma does happen.
- Flies, 9AM-10:15AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. 5 other people out including Carl.
- Waist-high with a few chest-high sets, no wind, somewhat consistent but really oddly shaped and difficult to get into waves.
- Caught 6-7 waves, including to great chest-high rights that went all the way to the stairs, holding nicely. The smaller ones today were really hard to catch, so one had to wait for the bigger ones. One head-high+ rogue wave came through though, but of course everybody was too far in.
- Sand Island, 8:30AM-10AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Rich. 5 other people but only 2 at the end.
- waist-high+, very inconsistent, light winds.
- Went to that spot after seeing Flies completed dead and with 7 people out. Eric was paddling back to shore saying he was done wasting his time out there and he's the one who suggested Sand Island. Conditions weren't great there at all, but at least we got to go to a new spot. It took some time to figure out where to park and paddle out.
- Caught about 5-6 waves, with one really fun and long left, and a couple of fun take-offs. Looks like the spot's only a left though as my attempts on the right were pretty infructuous. Being at a new spot always makes me feel out of sorts, and today the waves were really tricky to catch anyway and very inconsistent.
- Flies, 8:30AM-9:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Two other people out.
- waist-high, swell too weak, tide too high, extremely inconsistent, light winds.
- Caught 3 waves, with one decent right. The spot wasn't working today, which I saw coming due to the high tide at 11AM, but I just had to get wet this week.
- Flies, 9AM-10AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. 2-3 other people out including Conrad for a bit.
- Waist-high+, oddly shaped, getting very inconsistent as the tide kicked in.
- Caught 4 waves, with one great right that was nicely shaped. Others were not so great, but one left was ok I guess. Really odd conditions out there. Caught a last insider at the end just to not have to paddle in.
- I really thought that with the swell the noon high-tide wouldn't be too much of a factor, but I was wrong and so were the people who paddled out at 10AM!
- Flies, 7AM-8:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. 5-6 other people out including Eric and Chris.
- Waist- to chest-high, glassy, somewhat consistent, but several close-outs due to the angle of the swell.
- Caught about 10 waves, with a couple of decent ones. I had forgotten have blinding the rising sun is when riding a right. I botched by first 3 waves (not falling, but taking a wildly suboptimal line) just because I couldn't see anything at all.
- It was nice being in the water with Eric after so many months not surfing early morning. He's 3 months from retiring, and will undoubtedly surf much more then!
- Pod of dolphins way on the outside.
- Flies, 7AM-8:45AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. Started with 3 other people out, including Eric, and then by myself for 30min.
- Waist-high+, somewhat consistent, windy and a bit choppy.
- Caught about 20 waves, without anything particularly great given that the few chest-high sets that came closed out. Still quite a few fun rides to be had.
- Flies, 9AM-10:30AM
- On my 9'6''.
- By myself. One other surfer out.
- Waist- to chest-high, inconsistent, messy, tide too high, light winds.
- Pretty much lame conditions today. I though the swell was going to be sufficient to negate the high tide, but that wasn't the case. A few big sets came in and were not well-shaped, and few of the smaller sets even broke.
- Caught 6-7 waves, with two fun chest-high ones that had a fun first section. My last wave brought me close to the stairs, somehow, but nothing really exciting to report.
- Flies, 7AM-8:45AM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Bryson. Up to 3 other people out including Eric.
- Knee- to waist-high, really inconsistent and weak, glassy.
- Paddled out even though there seemed to be very little out there, but the morning was beautiful and the tide was low, so what the hell.
- Stood up about 10 times, which was way more than I thought would happen. I actually caught one decent wave that was really hard to get into but walled up a bit on the inside. Very surprising given the conditions.
- Nice talking with Bryson and Eric in the water, overall a great morning but waves would have been nice too.
- Canoes, 8:15PM-9:30PM
- On my 9'6''.
- With Larry and Rob, nobody else out.
- Knee- to waist-high, glassy, clean, not very powerful or consistent.
- Caught 5-6 waves. Really pleasant session in fact, even though from the shore it looked like there were no waves at all.
- On my 9'6''.
- With Bryson. Up to 3 other people out including Eric.
- Knee- to waist-high, really inconsistent and weak, glassy.