thick in the head

Surfed a little protected beach up in Mendocino County on Sunday. I’ve checked this spot for years, and never seen it really break. Well, I guess it just needs an enormous NW swell and it fires.

16.7 @ 16 from NW
Mild sideshore wind
low incoming tide
1 1/2 hour in the water

I went for a really nice hike last weekend. Camped friday and saturday nights at Van Damme State Park and did a quickly paced (for me) hike up the Fern Creek Trail to the Pigmy Forest.

Name: Van Damme – Pigmy Forest
Date: Nov 7, 2009 1:39 pm
Distance: 8.44 miles
Elapsed Time: 3:20:10
Avg Speed: 2.5 mph
Max Speed: 4.9 mph
Avg Pace: 23′ 42″ per mile
Min Altitude: 3 ft
Max Altitude: 663 ft

Quick session in front of the resturant this morning. I haven’t been to this spot in years, and the funny thing is… I’m not sure if I surf any better now.

The fog was low and thick. The sets were outside and guaranteed to clean everone up. I was on the pig, and still haven’t figured it out,

I’m still not completely comfortable on this board and continue to search for a good take-off spot on the wave. I definitely need to spend more time in the water if I want to get any better.

The fog’s cleared now as I’m sitting here watching real surfers at chopper’s.

6.2 @ 21 from 300
No wind
High peaking tide
1 hour in the water

Sunset session at the the home break tonight. I still can’t judge this break very well, as I rode the long board but shoulda had the pig. Some day I’ll get comfortable at my home break, I swear. It was a really gorgeous night on the water. Clear, with hardly any wind to speak of… Fullish moon rising over the beach and hardly anyone out.

I only had a couple good rides. One was pretty memorable as the wave was sucking up hard enough to keep me in the top half of the face as the face seemed to double in size and threaten to throw me on the sand. It did finally let go and I dropped down just in time for the big close out.

It was a beautiful night and a session that I really needed… very happy I chose to paddle out.

2 @ 15 from 310
No wind
Low incoming tide
1 hour in the water

Surfed the buffet line right, with chopper on Saturday. It was real foggy in the city, sunny up north, then the fog surged back and forth during the whole session. The morning lite was bright, but diffuse and fantastic.

The tide was fairly high, but there was no sand on the beach. It was eroded about as much as I’ve ever seen it. Also, the water had a really weird amber tinge that i don’t remember seeing before. I assume both were caused by the storms last week.

The waves were small as expected. But we were catching consistent little thigh to waste high mackers rolling across the sand bar. It was was a good, chill sesssion… Exactly what I was hoping for.

5.5 @ 13 from 290
No wind
Medium bottoming out tide
3 hours in the water

Hiked with Kevin and Sam D, on Saturday. We did 5 or 6 miles on the north side of tam. It was a gorgeous day… No wind, blue skies, good friends…

A big quake hit samoa today… my thoughts go out to the people there

Surfed the home break this morning. Or I should say I asked the home break to kick my butt, and it happened.

I looked, deliberated, got some coffee, drove south, drove north, and decided I at least had to paddle out. Denied at first, then found a keyhole. Couldn’t find anything familiar or friendly, got caught inside on a set, blasted in the pit, and held down for a while. Happily put my tail between my legs and belly road some big nasty white water to the beach.

6.5 @ 11 from 310
Slight offshore wind
High outgoing tide
45 minutes in the water

Surfed in paradise tonight. In the water around 5:30 and out way after dark. Waiste high mackers with some minor lulls.

Very, very good vibes in the water on a gorgeous, warm night. The plan is to get some more in the morning at the local.

6.7 @ 17 from 300
No wind whatsoever
Very high outgoing tide
1 1/2 hours in the water

Heading north for a sunset session…

Opening day baby..!

I’m going to try keeping up with the blog through my phone. Hopefully, I’ll chronical the surf sessions with some hikes in between. I started the year trying to keep track of the number of times I surf this year, but totally lost interest a while back.

So this is a test. Just to see how the phone thing works.

Tried to surf a couple weeks ago, in Santa Cruz.

…still don’t know how

I went on the first hike of the year yesterday. It ended up being quicker than I thought it would be which was probably good.

Started at the Mountain Inn… up hogback, up the old railroad grade, up fern creek, past the visitors center, and up to the east peak. (1 1/2 hours)

I hung out in the clouds for about a half hour as visibility went from 100 feet to 10 miles and back within a few minutes. It was cloudy and windy, but didn’t really rain. (1/2 hour)

The route down was… old railroad grade, down millers, back onto old railroad grade, and back down hogback to the truck. (1 hour)

I figure it was about 5 miles or so, and 3 hours total. Elevation gain was around 960 ft to 2571 ft and back (1,600 ft).

Surfed at my place on sunday morning… totally denied. I had the long board, it looked really small. Well, I’m a total friggin’ kook and I definitely don’t know how to surf.

At first, I was denied just trying to get through the shore pound. I walked back out, went down the beach about 50 yards and made it out without to much trouble. The little peak that I was watching from the parking lot was about head to shoulder and pretty steep. I tried and kooked for about an hour… put my tail between my legs and paddled in.

It was a beautiful day, nobody else on it, slight offshore winds…, I couldn’t have had better conditions… well…, next time.

4.5′ @ 7 seconds from 322.
low incoming tide.
1 hour in the water.

Surfed at my place yesterday… Should have gone earlier, but procrastinated and got in the water just as the wind changed and the water got a bit junky. The day was beautiful and the wind was really not that strong, but there was not enough swell to hold up.

It was a nice day and good to be in the water at the home break. I drifted about 4 blocks and ended with the best ride of the day on one of the best waves that I had seen. So… warm sun, lite wind, an hour of chillin’ and a few good rides at the home break makes a good day.

2.3′ @ 9 seconds from 315.
medium outgoing tide.
1 hour in the water.

forget

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I’m adding 7 surf posts under the category of ’sessions ‘08′, because I didn’t record them back in the fall. So here… #7

more than flat black

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I’m adding 7 surf posts under the category of ’sessions ‘08′, because I didn’t record them back in the fall. So here… #6

are even more simple than they appear

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I’m adding 7 surf posts under the category of ’sessions ‘08′, because I didn’t record them back in the fall. So here… #5

of an ego

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I’m adding 7 surf posts under the category of ’sessions ‘08′, because I didn’t record them back in the fall. So here… #4