« May 2009 | Extempore | July 2009 »
June 30, 2009 (Tuesday)
Post-session
Super fun. Consistent 1-3 with light trades. Not crowded.
I scored, big time. Had it to myself for about two hours. Then three others came out for the last hour.
Initially there was one guy when I paddled out. It was inconsistent, and I was struggling because I felt stiff and awkward. My arthritis (hip, knee, elbow) was bothering me; but not more than usual, just that I was letting it distract me. I fell on my first wave.
Then the sets started to improve: It got bigger, solid 3s, with good frequency. It really seemed like the swell was building. The other guy went in, and that's when I started to find my rythym. I loosened up and relaxed and started surfing better. But the sets were splitting between the back-bowl and the wide-bowl, and it was difficult to know where to sit.
Soon, thankfully, it settled down and began breaking in the same place, and that's when my session truly began. From then on, I was catching wave after wave and some were taking me all the way to Bs+Ms, which I'd estimate to be at least 150 yards away. I had some awesome rides, grinning and laughing as I paddled back out.
When the other guys joined, they sat deep and I had my peak alone. I continued snagging waves non-stop, and I continued going all the way to the next break (long, long rides).
Eventually the sets did back off and there were some intervening lulls. My shoulders were tired. Time to head in. This was my best session in a while. I'm surfed out.
Posted at 5:23 PM
June 29, 2009 (Monday)
Post-session
Fun again at Ms. Alone at first then a handful joined near the end. Inconsistent with moderate trades. Like yesterday, all nearby spots not crowded.
Posted at 1:11 PM
June 28, 2009 (Sunday)
Post-session
Solo fun at Ms. I'd call it 1-2 with 3s and maybe some 4s. Very doable and normal. I still took some poundings, but it was playful stuff, nothing out of control. At the nearby spots, there was barely anyone out, and I think that was probably due to everyone assuming it was still too big. More swell on the way, or so I've been told.
Just a comment on the previous post. Purple Tide is good from a design standpoint because it's clean and simple. But the content is another thing, particularly the accuracy of the reporting. That's always been an issue with these guys. Often it seems they don't really check the waves because their numbers are so far off. Today is a good example. Did they really look or just throw out measurements based on what they thought should be the case?
Now compare their new site to the old one (surfnewsnetwork.com). Who edits the original site, a sixth grader? (You know I wouldn't be me if I didn't bring this up.) The poor spatial organization and use of structure, the formatting (fonts, colors), and punctuation, etc., are atrocious.
Posted at 1:21 PM
Finally
Omigosh, SNN got it right this time: www.purpletide.com. Good job.
Posted at 11:19 AM
June 27, 2009 (Saturday)
Post-session
Did Waik's. Crowded and dangerous (update: hazardous due to the number of kooks on tanks) with serious doubles over the inside reef. And, of course, the prelude was trying to find parking in one of the most congested urban spaces in the world on a major holiday weekend. Overall, the experience sucked.
Posted at 4:56 PM
June 26, 2009 (Friday)
Post-session
It's big, it's powerful, it's out of control. And it's supposed to get bigger?
Posted at 7:23 PM
June 25, 2009 (Thursday)
Nada Dada
No session. Just got done with a business meeting that finished my all-day work day (started at 5:45am finished at 7:00pm).
Did see the waves, though, and can report that it's disappointingly not huge. Three's and the surrounding breaks looked to be about head-high at the most.
I'll be out there tomorrow (at my usual place). That's the plan.
Posted at 7:31 PM
June 24, 2009 (Wednesday)
Post-session
No session yesterday. One of those fun 12-hour shifts again.
Today did three spots. I was surprised by some of the sets. At Ms, there were some big (easily over-head), chunky, juicy bowl-ages. Very inconsistent, but this new energy is potentially very strong with lots of push. It was extremely choppy due to the strong trades, and perhaps this was making the waves seem big. Some of the takeoffs were crazy-steep/-late and challenging. The peaks would jack suddenly and then fold over with the extra water from the high tide.
Posted at 6:30 PM
June 22, 2009 (Monday)
Post-session
Small and dismal. We can now say with confidence that what we've got here is a failure to communicate . . . i mean, wind swell. Surprisingly I had many fun ones on the end-corner bowl. Gotta know where to look, my friends. Whatever.
Posted at 7:04 PM
June 21, 2009 (Sunday)
Post-session
Smaller. Windier. Less fun-er.
Posted at 1:07 PM
June 20, 2009 (Saturday)
Post-session
Chest- to head-high, blown-out slop.
Posted at 8:51 PM
June 19, 2009 (Friday)
Post-session
Windy and sloppy. Smaller. Blown out fading residual and background stuff. Much too sizeable and organized to be solely wind-driven.
It never ceases to amaze how people call it wind swell simply because it's...windy. Equally astounding is when the declaration is made immediately after the wind gets stronger, like the next day. Sure, the sudden increase in wind speed will make waves, but what kind (meaning, what size and form) and from which direction? Need I say more?
It's just like when you're out and the waves die or get more consistent and someone says, "Oh, it's the tide." Really? Wow, you're a frickin' genius. Of course it's irrelevant what the tide is actually doing because the person simply makes a massive rationalization to fit the theory. Rising, dropping, reversing...it's the tide, stupid. If the waves get more frequent, then it's due to a surge, a "push," or the change from ebb/flow or vice versa. If the surf backs off, then the outgoing tide or even the cresting high is "killing" it.
There's no doubt the wind and tide can make all the difference. We all know that. And I think speculations about the influence on a particular situation can be valid and well-grounded. But many times it's offered mindlessly.
Posted at 7:41 PM
June 18, 2009 (Thursday)
Post-session
Possible new but faint energy. Surprisingly soft. Windy. Crappy. Not crowded.
Posted at 5:21 PM
June 17, 2009 (Wednesday)
Post-session
First real surfing for me since Saturday. No go-out yesterday because I had to work (12-hour shift---fun). Monday was a waste at my usual spot since it can't handle large swell.
It's definitely smaller now. In fact, it's surprisingly soft. But I had some semi-fun ones; and I'm tired from all the paddling, and that's a good feeling.
Posted at 8:06 PM
June 15, 2009 (Monday)
Post-session
Sucked. Too big at my regular place. Why didn't I go elsewhere? Lazy.
Solid, non-stop sets. Probably some 6'+ on the far outside. Strong current. Had to be bigger at other spots.
Posted at 7:13 PM
Whereto?
Horrendous 14-hour shift yesterday at work so couldn't surf. Missed it. It was probably huge. Friend told me that Saturday evening he went out to a certain spot near Waikiki and swears there were solid 8-foot (Hawaii-style) sets.
Don't know where I'm going today. But. Must. Avoid. Crowd.
Posted at 10:51 AM
June 13, 2009 (Saturday)
Post-session
New, strong swell. Big with ripping current. Had an awful time. But I heard it's good at various other places. Also, the evenings have been good of late, so I think late afternoon with the rising tide will bring huge sets.
Posted at 3:22 PM
June 12, 2009 (Friday)
Post-session
Two times two equals four. The last one was the best. Smaller but still some sets.
Posted at 9:31 PM
June 11, 2009 (Thursday)
Post-session
Finally got in the water. Missed the previous two days.
Not a good one for the kookster. Did Ms and it was dismal. Paddled over to Bs+Ms and caught one good left. Then went to the regular spot. It was empty, so something had to be wrong. The tide was ruining the form and it was abysmally inconsistent. But it had push. Power.
I took off on a set-wave and barely made the drop. Then there was all chop and turbulence, and I bled off so much speed that I stalled. It re-formed, and I turned around to look and watched as the thick wall heaved, and the lip pitched out and exploded on me. The wave picked up my board and me and blew us away like leaves in a gale.
My new board hit my leg and gashed it, the rail had a two-inch ding, and the bottom had a big pressure. The board had gone between my legs, and I'm lucky I didn't get hurt from the fins.
Posted at 7:57 PM
June 8, 2009 (Monday)
Post-session
Went completely out of my element and did Town-proper. It was crowded. Good waves with decent conditions/form but inconsistent. There were some big sets. Solid over-head.
Update: Should mention that we went to an adjacent spot because it was so crowded at the first, and that's where the big sets came in.
Posted at 6:16 PM
June 7, 2009 (Sunday)
Post-session
New energy. Bigger with some occasional bombers but very sloppy. Not crowded initially then packed.
Posted at 8:19 PM
June 6, 2009 (Saturday)
Post-session
Just like yesterday but smaller. Nice day-off nonetheless. Uncrowded waves and no stress. Very relaxing.
Posted at 9:01 PM
June 5, 2009 (Friday)
Post-session
It was really crappy. Super messy and sloppy. Barely rideable.
Interesting how the crowd pretty much disappears when the wind gets going. I'd estimate there's 70-80% less people in the water when it gets windy (thankfully).
Posted at 11:39 PM
June 4, 2009 (Thursday)
Post-session
Swell is definitely dropping. It's truly remarkable how empty it gets when there's just a bit of wind on it. Better for me. More for me.
Started at Bs+Ms and caught some fun lefts initially, and then it got kinda messy. Ambled over to Ms to finish up and ended with many fun ones.
Posted at 6:06 PM
June 3, 2009 (Wednesday)
Post-session
Looked awesome and fun from the cars and from the beach and as we paddled out. And there were a few good sets in the beginning. But soon it degraded. We paddled over to Bs+Ms to ride the lefts, and I had several nice ones. That's where we finished. After we got out, we could see clearly that it was getting more consistent and bigger with very pronounced westerly push.
Posted at 5:20 PM
June 2, 2009 (Tuesday)
Choices
Thinking about using Joomla!. My friend is a professional Web designer, and he uses it extensively.
No surfing for me today. Twelve-hour shift at work. Fun.
Posted at 7:58 PM
June 1, 2009 (Monday)
Post-session
Crappy time this afternoon. The sun was brutal, and the water warm. But the waves pretty much sucked. Lots of kooks at the regular spot, so we sought refuge at Bs+Ms.
You must know that I changed the location directory for the blog. Wasn't sure how it would go--didn't want to break anything--but it seems to have gone off okay. Next project will be to redesign the look of the static pages throughout the site.
Posted at 5:24 PM