« July 2009 | Extempore | September 2009 »
August 31, 2009 (Monday)
Post-session
Really bad overall but was able to snag some fun ones on the far inside end-corner bowl. One of the regulars said a "bunch" of south swells are on the way, with the first one being a straight south in two days.
Posted at 8:24 PM
August 30, 2009 (Sunday)
Post-session
BM's first with a friend. Dismal. Paddled down to Regular. Awful. Lots of longboard kooks dropping in on each other made for some comic relief.
Posted at 11:40 PM
August 29, 2009 (Saturday)
Post-session
Quite bad, but some doable ones on the inside. Steady stream of kooks made it crowded.
Posted at 10:07 PM
August 28, 2009 (Friday)
Post-session
Regular. Crowded. Inside had some semi-fun doubles and east-y bowlages. Overall boring.
Posted at 9:51 PM
August 27, 2009 (Thursday)
Post-session
Acute crapatosis. Tried M's again hoping for a repeat. Nada. Moseyed over to BMs to finish.
Posted at 9:43 PM
August 26, 2009 (Wednesday)
Post-session
M's. Surprisingly fun. Inconsistent but lined up and rippable with good push and feeling the reef nicely. Slightly bigger. Some of the best rides I've had in a few weeks. Then at the end the sets completely died. Overall, though, it had been great.
Posted at 8:12 PM
August 25, 2009 (Tuesday)
Post-session
M's with a friend. Total crap.
Over to Regular. Several fun ones. Windy then lighter with better form/conditions. Relatively empty then Revenge of the Kooks.
Posted at 4:37 PM
August 24, 2009 (Monday)
Post-session
M's alone. Windy and sloppy but fun on the far inside.
Started off quite badly. Paddled over to B+M then back to M's. Soon thereafter, some rippable sets materialized.
Posted at 12:21 PM
August 23, 2009 (Sunday)
Post-session
M's. Still some size. Nice at first then completely died. Trades light to moderate. Slightly crowded.
Posted at 12:23 PM
August 22, 2009 (Saturday)
Post-session
Slightly smaller but still some sets. Fun doubles in the middle and inside. Not too crowded.
Posted at 6:29 PM
August 21, 2009 (Friday)
Post-session
Surprisingly bigger with some bombs. Had a frustrating time. Long session and not many good rides.
Posted at 9:47 PM
August 20, 2009 (Thursday)
Post-session
Bigger. Looked good from the cars, but I found it to be really sloppy--worse than it looked. Started at Regular then went to M's for a bit, caught one wave, then paddled back. Moved to the inside and caught several really good ones. There were some nice re-form doubles pushing through from the outside. Didn't take much longer, though, before I was burnt. Shoulders were tired (rip was fairly strong). Done.
Posted at 7:34 PM
August 19, 2009 (Wednesday)
Post-session
M's alone then with two others. Bigger and fun. Did more size mitigate the severity of the high tide's negative impact on form and ride-ability? I think definitely. It was still somewhat sloppy but nothing like yesterday. And most were lining up. Had some good rides.
Posted at 8:20 PM
August 18, 2009 (Tuesday)
Post-session
M's. Slightly bigger. High tide ruining it. Painfully slope-y, weak, and mushy.
Posted at 7:54 PM
August 17, 2009 (Monday)
Post-session
Bigger. Frustrating at first. Went to M's, then BMs, then back to M's, then to Regular. The final one at M's was the best. Very high tide and slope-y. It was packed when we first got there, and then at the end is was quite empty, which was very surprising.
Posted at 8:06 PM
August 16, 2009 (Sunday)
Post-session
Quickie before work. Did M's and BMs alone. Bigger, for sure. Very messy and sloppy.
Posted at 9:01 PM
August 15, 2009 (Saturday)
Post-session
Lots of fun at BMs with a friend. Much better than expected. Then three guys joined and it kinda got junk.
One of the three is a local pro. He surfs the nearby spots usually when the waves are junk elsewhere. So I've seen him in the water many times, and he never fails to blow me away. He is very, very skilled, to say the least. His style is extremely polished, smooth, and explosive. He amazes me.
When he's around, I feel very inadequate and get inhibited. That's what happened today. When he came out my session ended because I didn't feel like surfing anymore. That's just the way I am. I get intimidated and embarrassed. His ability level is so much higher that I feel worthless. He simply overawes.
Posted at 8:12 PM
August 14, 2009 (Friday)
Post-session
More wind, less fun.
Posted at 12:20 PM
August 13, 2009 (Thursday)
Post-session
BM's. Me and a friend. Small but rippable. Fun.
Posted at 7:41 PM
August 12, 2009 (Wednesday)
Post-session
Got a call this afternoon that my regular spot was extremely clean but micro (even smaller than yesterday). Crowded? "Looks like Waikiki on a flat day," was the response. Check. Definitely not going there.
In fact, at that time it was raining and quite gloomy, so I figured it was the perfect day to take a rest and relax at home on the couch in front of the HDTV. But by the time I got home, the clouds had broken and the sun was peeking out. Can't stay home now.
So I did M's. First alone, and then occasionally some stragglers and hangers-on would join. It was dismal. Waves were so infrequent as to be practically non-existent. Made a brief sojourn to B's+M's then went back to M's. Awful stuff. Wind went from light SW to moderate SE. Weird.
Posted at 7:37 PM
August 11, 2009 (Tuesday)
Post-session
Very clean conditions. Nice form. Small.
Where's the rain and wind, Felicia? I'm glad nothing bad happened.
I was talking with someone who's from the mainland but living here now, and she said she was disappointed we weren't going to have a hurricane because she'd never been in one and wanted to experience it. Whoa. That's about as naïve and clueless as you can get.
Posted at 6:26 PM
August 10, 2009 (Monday)
Post-session
When we pulled up, it appeared quite good. Clean with nice form. But M's was crowded (five people). WTF? And it looked smaller.
I could see that my friend was out there. So my other friend and I headed out. One of the regulars paddled over from the usual spot, and so it was four of us. We took over and the other four went in.
Fun initially. And then it got very inconsistent. Got windier too. Form got weaker.
It was boring. And a big change from all these days when I've been surfing the place alone. I thought yesterday was east but today was without doubt west-y.
Interestingly, the Hawaii surf-forecasting guru himself came out afterward and joined us. He said there was the energy from Felicia (so that was east) and some Tasman Sea energy (so that was west) and both were coming in. Ah, okay, but I wondered why one was so pronounced one day and the other the next. He just nodded in the affirmative and repeated that both swell directions were conflicting. We had a nice talk.
Posted at 5:29 PM
August 9, 2009 (Sunday)
Post-session
Bigger. Interestingly, it had more east in it. Is that because of Felicia?
The direction definitely is different. How the heck do I know? I don't, for sure, of course. It's just supposition. But I can say I've been surfing pretty much the same spot every day for a few weeks, and all that time it's been breaking in the same way. That is, it was coming in west-y and hitting the back-bowl in an A-frame. The previous several days, in particular, were almost identical in that regard.
But today, no: distinct contrast. But then I'm chronically prone to exaggeration, misperception, misjudgment, and a notoriously faulty memory.
Posted at 11:08 PM
August 8, 2009 (Saturday)
Post-session
Some fun ones at M's. First just me and a friend then me alone. Windy and choppy and head-high at the biggest but nice angle and some challenging A-frames. Had several great rides.
Posted at 10:41 PM
August 7, 2009 (Friday)
Post-session
M's yet again. Slow at first. Stumbled early on. Couldn't get it going. First wave: unhorsed on takeoff while paddling; second wave: stuck at top on takeoff while trying to stand. Etc.
But once I got loose and relaxed, I started doing very well. What's been happening is my arthritic hip really is tight and sore in the beginning, and it takes me about half an hour or several rides to get warmed up. Then again, at least I have two fully functioning arms (I don't know how she does it; how does she do it?).
It ended dismally as the sets got very infrequent and the conditions/form worsened. I think I had it at the best time, though, because two others joined me and by then it totally sucked.
Posted at 9:47 PM
August 6, 2009 (Thursday)
Post-session
Did M's. Head-high at the biggest. Extremely windy and sloppy.
I had fun. Had a few really good rides. The best were on the far inside. The tide was so high, and I was catching these rolling peaks of whitewater that would continually build and re-form. No wall--just a pit. I would keep cutting back or slicing in the slot and go all the way to the coral heads (which is academic but is mentioned because it means I was going as far as was possible).
This is cool: "New Futuristic Coke Machine: Possibly Greatest Invention Ever."
Posted at 5:47 PM
August 5, 2009 (Wednesday)
Post-session
Smaller. Windy and choppy. Quite dismal. There's stuff, but it's sloppy.
Posted at 6:23 PM
August 4, 2009 (Tuesday)
Post-session
Slightly bigger. Hard going but made the best of it. Windy, sloppy, excruciatingly inconsistent. Did M's then the regular. A forgettable experience.
Posted at 8:56 PM
August 3, 2009 (Monday)
Post-session
Smaller. Windy and sloppy. Not crowded. Yada.
I had some fun ones, especially just before I went in. However, there were some inglorious and frustrating moments interspersed as the reality check.
Posted at 7:10 PM
August 2, 2009 (Sunday)
Post-session
Windy and chunky and somewhat challenging in the beginning. Started catching waves immediately. Then it got dismal. Stayed about an hour because had to go to work. But was happy to go in. Was feeling tired and burnt out anyway.
Posted at 12:24 PM
August 1, 2009 (Saturday)
Post-session
M's then my usual spot (although M's is fast becoming my regular place). Wild and wooly at M's. Mean rip. Caught three waves then headed over to the usual. Started snagging fun ones immediately. Quite consistent initially with some big sets. Lots of water from the high tide, and the strong trades made it bouncy and choppy. It wasn't crowded and several of us regulars were catching whatever we wanted. Toward the end the sets died and the conditions/form worsened considerably.
Posted at 3:57 PM