The great illusion

I don't know what is worse, no swell or bad swell. At least with no swell you know you don't want to go out. With bad swell there is the illusion that you could catch something. Such was the case today, as it was big but no shape along the coast. As usual, Lowers boasted 100 people in the water as it could almost manage the unruly swell. I tried a bit at Dogpatch, but the south wind and lumpy waves drove me in pretty quickly. Just a maintenance day really, paddling under 15 or so 6 foot set waves at a time, they really were not worth the effort. Still, even if I did catch only 2 waves that had a shoulder to them, I really flew along and over a few racy floater sections. So, sometimes, I think that it does pay to take a chance and try to surf the great illusion.

The heat of the moment

Today wasn't just pretty good, it was pretty incredible. A bit of pre-swell started showing around noon today so I raced down to Lower's and got some of the first of the swell. It is a deep water NW, and it likes to break right on my favorite spot. While 25 miserable foes battled for a SW mush peak on top of the point, down the line offered a 80 yard race track filled with big hard turns, off the wall snaps, carving free fall lip bounces and even a deep barrelling tube to round off the session. With a smile on my face I had the greatest carving session in recent memory in hot glassy mid day excellence, noting that the icy water temperature was long forgotten in the heat of the moment.

Good and pretty!

Good and pretty is the order of the day. I chose to wait until the end of the day today. Under the spell of the Daylight Savings Time enigma, I rode the 6 o clock evening shift when there wasn't one yesterday, and was rewarded with some empty peaks under fairy like conditions. Really...75 degrees and wisps of Pampas grass spores in hot offshore winds so that it seemed truly unworldly for the likes of California. Small carve-ables presented themselves during the best tide of the day, and I was there with little left of the crowd, so I took advantage of some glassy little racetracks. Even if I can't really say it was pretty good, I am more than satisfied it was good and pretty!