Whale Lovin'

Session: 17
Date: Wednesday, 5/25/05
Places: Montara (South end); Linda Mar (North end)
Time: 5:30PM to 8:30PM
Waves: Not that great, some OK ones
Stokemeter: 4

After work I went straight over to HMB. Jetty wasn’t breaking at all. Montara looked ok, but not that great. Kept going north. Grey Whale Cove looked ok, but I really wasn’t too keen on the idea of being the only guy out. For some reason I was spooked a little today. Ah, yeah, I remember, the reason was because it was humpback whale mating day, and when I was watching at Montara I saw about 4 of them only about 100 yards off shore mating like crazy. They were constantly flipping over and sticking their fins out and moving around – it was pretty remarkable, but it freaked me out a bit when I kept seeing these huge fins coming out of the water – just made me think about what other huge things might be swimming around in the darkness under my feet. So I kept going further. Linda Mar looked OK, but it was crowded. Rockaway looked awful, nobody was surfing it and it wasn’t clean at all. So I turned around. Drove back past Linda Mar. Drove back past Grey Whale Cove. Went to Montara. Went out at the south end of the beach, there were 2 other people down about 100 yards to the north. Waves at the south end were pretty strange – they jacked up pretty fast and were surprisingly powerful. Not to mention the water was FREEZING. I was getting ice-cream headaches on just regular old duckdives. Everytime! After trying to surf for about 30 minutes, I saw the two people go in. Sitting by myself I got pretty freaked out, so I went in too. Just didn’t feel right. I still had some time so I drove back up to Linda Mar. There was certainly a crowd there so I wouldn’t have to worry about feeling alone. I went out at the North end and caught some good rides, but I think I was still a bit messed up and my surfing wasn’t very good. I caught one nice wave and rode it well, but that was about it. I even wiped out on a few good ones that I easily should have had. Some days you just aren’t quite on as much as others, I suppose.

I then drove straight home in my wetsuit because I was cold and didn’t want to have to change outside in the wind. Got in the shower and made it super hot, now that’s a great place to take off your wetsuit.

This weekend could provide some good surfing, if I stay in town. I’ll keep y’all posted. Signing off – Blaze.

Double Overhead On Your Dome

Session: 16
Date: Thursday, 5/19/05
Place: Linda Mar, North End
Time: 6PM to 8:15PM
Waves: Mondo-sized, mostly close-outs
Stokemeter: 7 (Big Drops, Big Close-outs on the Head!)

There is one heck of a late May swell happening right now, and the wind has let up too so it’s on. I’m flyin’ solo on this session, so I took a look at some SF spots. First – I went to the north end of Ocean Beach. It was nuts. The waves break EVERYWHERE and they are really big and getting out would be near impossible. Then, once outside, you’d still have to deal with the shifty peaks and you’d never know when a monster set is right behind that wave about to break on your head and you’re gonna be reeeeealllly screwed. Needless to say I didn’t go out surfing at the North end of OB, and neither did anybody else.

Next I drove south along the great highway to Sloat Avenue. I watched it for 10 minutes and it seemed more promising. Getting out was still going to be a battle, but it looked possible. The outside waves seemed to be breaking in the same spot more or less – but it’s hard to judge that when you’re standing on the shore and your eyes pick up every breaking wave anywhere in the general vicinity of where you plan to be sitting. Nobody was out. But I said screw it it’s time to try OB so I suited up and went out and stood for about 7 minutes up to my knees in the water trying to see if there was ever a chance to get out a ways without having to duck dive about 20 waves – well, there wasn’t. So I just finally decided now was as good as any and started paddling on out. It was a challenge, but I was fresh and I made it without too much difficulty…or at least I thought I had made it. I sat where I thought was gonna be safe – but right when I got comfortable along comes a clean-up set ready to take me back inside. I duck dove the first one and barely made it through. I duck dove the 2nd one and got turned around sideways. The 3rd one broke way outside and I’d had enough, I got way back on the board, let the whitewater swallow me up, and then got tossed back towards the shore. The wave was big enough that even the whitewater had a face to work with so I went ahead and stood up and promptly fell over. I climbed back on my board just in time to get engulfed by the next whitewater wave, and I hopped up again and managed to ride this one all the way in. Some dudes sitting in the parking lot had watched my whole “session” and I walked past them on the way back to my car but they didn’t have anything to say – at least I had balls to go out and try it – their pansy asses just sat there and watched.

So my first attempt to surf OB would have to be considered a failure. I came, I went, and I got sent back to where I came from by an ocean that didn’t seem to want me out there. But I tried, and by paddling out by myself on a big day, I think I’m much more prepared now than I was before to try OB on some of those nice smaller summer days.

Having been denied at Ocean Beach but still craving some waves I kept heading south. I drove down to Pacifica and saw some monsters going off by the pier, still with nobody out and also with some howling onshore winds. Not going out there. Kept driving south. Rockaway – closing out the whole bay. Not gonna work. More driving south. Linda Mar, normally the smallest spot in the area, a beginner break. I pulled into the parking lot, got out, looked around. No wind. 40 people in the middle part of the break. 20 to the South. 1 to the North. I bet you can guess where I was going…Yeah, North side. The reason for only 1 guy being out there I soon saw – the waves were double overhead and comin’ with the Juice. But I watched, and it seemed like if they came from the right angle, they held up and were producing some pretty good fast rights. So I went on out. Getting out wasn’t too hard – had to duck dive quite a few but it wasn’t anything like OB. Sat out there and a set came in right away and I went ahead and took the 2nd wave…Made a monster drop, flew along the face for 2 seconds, then had it close out so I just straightened out and rode it on in. Paddled back out, 1 minute later another set, caught another monster, walled up right in front of me – formed a suicide tube and I just went ahead and jumped into the face of the wave before I got absolutely clobbered. I haven’t perfected that move yet because I ended up getting tossed and went through the spin cycle. Paddled back out and another set came in. Caught the 3rd wave of the set and it held up for a while longer than the others. Got a nice right outta the deal…but ultimately it still closed out on me. Anyway I kept on paddling back out and sets kept on coming and I caught some lefts and some rights and made numerous big drops and had my adrenaline kicking in pretty good. The punishment that the Linda Mar wave dished out wasn’t very big compared to the size of the wave face – so I was perfectly happy with that. The 1 guy out with me was a cool guy so we worked off eachother and were both happy to have the other guy out there. Surfed until it was almost dark and then was gonna get one more but a non-stop set came though as I was trying to get back out, and after 25 duck dives I turned around and rode the whitewater to the shore and called it good. It was fun to get some size today – I’ve been surfing pretty much small stuff for a long while now and this was a good challenge – and I’m happy to say my skills seemed to be just fine.

The swell is still around – but unfortunately so is lots of wind. But maybe soon I’ll get another big day in to go with all these small sessions…we shall see.

Mike – get up here and join me for some of this big stuff. Time for you to start charging again.

Weekend Warriors

Session: 14 and 15
Date: Saturday, 5/14/05; Sunday, 5/15/05
Places: 4-Mile, Steamers, 4-Mile; 4-Mile
Times: 1 to 3, 4:30 - 5:30, 6:15 - 7:30; 4:00 to 7:00
Waves: Very nice, mostly head-high or a bit bigger
Stokemeter: 9 (what a great weekend!)

I've been in need of a good solid surf weekend. The kind of weekend where you have no prior commitments or plans. The kind of weekend where you don't go out 'til 3am drinking and then spend the next 12 hours nursing your hangover. The kind of weekend where you can just grab a board, pick a spot, get out in the water and simply enjoy some waves with your Burropak brothers. Well, this weekend I got what I needed.

Saturday: Woke up in my nice new room on my nice bed on my fantastically nice sheets (I highly recommend getting good sheets, they're awesome - plus i got mine at some little asian discount store for about 80% off) at about 9:15. Wanted to wake up earlier, but hey, I don't get enough sleep during the week. Took my time getting ready, in true Bennett fashion. Took Xtina to Noah's for a bagel, and I got two for myself. Yum. Finally hit the road to Santa Cruz around 11. The drive was enjoyable - I went all the way down Highway 1, along the ocean. It is a spectacular drive, with tons of spots to stop and check out. There is some pretty amazing land between San Francisco and Santa Cruz - cliffs, fields, farms, beaches, forests, hills, creeks, and tons of nice, empty waves just looking for a surfer to come out and enjoy them. It is 77 miles from SF to SC, and you can't really go 70 mph the whole way so it can be a bit of a long drive, about an hour and a half. But if you have the time to cruise and stop to check out the scenery, it's really nice.

Anyway - as I kept going it kept getting later, and that meant the wind kept increasing. By the time I got to 4-mile it was blowing pretty damn good - so I just drove right by after not seeing Nic or Mike there yet to see if they were gonna go somewhere else. Anyway I ended up playing chicken with them on the way to Natural Bridges, and they said it wasn't any good there, so I just turned around and followed 'em back to 4-mile. For those who don't know, 4-mile requires about a 4 minute walk in from the parking area to the beach in order to check the waves, and when I drove by the first time I didn't bother with the hike - but now that I had my crew with me we checked it out and although windy it was still sunny out and the waves looked fun and not too crowded - so we decided to do it. We got out there and paddled to the outside line-up where a few guys were and started surfin'. What was so nice was that I knew I had just dedicated this day and this weekend to surfing - so I wasn't concerned about what time it was, or thinking about what to do that night, or anything. I just got to go out, sit with some friends, and surf. The waves were good and it was fun - even though the wind was pretty bad. 4-mile is nice because it does get sheltered alot from wind, but it was still blowing fairly hard out there. By the way - an wetsuit benefit! - it blocks the wind and you really don't feel it very much. It's not like in Hawaii where the wind would make you cold. Yeah yeah I know the Cali water is about 50 degrees - but I'm just trying to look on the bright side.

I surfed the 7'2" Cino again, and I really love that board. I want to get some new boards but I can't decide what to get. Should I buy like a 6'6" shortboard, and also like a 9'0" longboard, or should I just go down the middle and buy a 7'2" Cino clone? Ahhh if only money were no object - I'd go straight down to Aqua today and have Vernor custom make me that 6'6" and that longboard. And while I'm at it I might as well order a Rotella fish clone and a Cino clone too. $$$$$$!!!

Anyway, back to the surf. It was fun, but windy, so we put in 2 hours and then went in and drove down to SC for some grubbage. We hit Pleasure Pizza, which was a good choice. Delicious pizza in a cool surfer setting - they have a bunch of boards on the ceiling and photos all around. But it was sunny so we just sat outside and worked on our tans and had a slice.

After refueling we figured we'd check out town to see what was happening. We went to Steamers, knowing it'd be the least windy, and it was. Very smooth out there, almost no wind at all. It wasn't crowded when we looked at it so we went ahead and got out there, but after being out about 15 minutes it seemed as if everyone and their grandma came out. There were some damn good surfers too - guys who took off outside of the rock, then surfed within inches of nailing their heads on it! It was pretty nuts. But that was where the wave started, and with it being crowded like it was, that was what you had to do to have inside position on the waves. Anyway, I wasn't feeling up to any life-threatening surfing today, so I stayed further inside. That meant I didn't have many un-claimed waves to catch - I had to wait for either the waves that were coming in a little more to the side (rare) or had to wait for a wave to get by somehow or have someone wipeout (also very rare). I ended up getting 2 ok waves outta the deal and a couple that I caught inside that were ok too. Nic and Mike I don't think were getting much of anything, so we didn't stay very long and went back in and decided that it was a bit later and the wind would be dying so we went back to 4-mile. Good idea! It wasn't very windy anymore, there weren't many people out, and we all had some great rides. Nic is now surfing his longboard again, and that is resulting in him getting alot more waves and getting much longer rides, which is exactly what he needs to improve his skills. Mike is pretty selective in his wave choices, but I saw him get a couple nice ones and he was lookin' pretty sharp. We surfed another hour or two and then were worn out from a triple day. Drove back into town, ate Mexican, and then I drove back on up Highway 1 to SF - feeling real real good.

Sunday: C-Mass had a race to run this morning, so she was up early and I got to sleep in (for once! - normally it's me up at 6am to go to work and she's still in bed all peaceful and cozy and getting to sleep for another 2 or 3 hours) . But today she was up and out and I was laying right there in bed the whole time...ah how sweet it was. The race was Bay-to-Breakers, a huge run in SF where some people run seriously but most just walk behind carting kegs and booze and having a big moving 7-mile long party. I have run enough already in my lifetime so I wasn't down for any racing, but I did get up at about 9 to meet Christina at the finish line and to see what was goin on. Well, there were tons of people, some interesting outfits, and a fun environment, but I didn't see any of the super-boozers because they of course were nowhere near being done yet. I also didn't see any naked old men, of which Christina informed me there were several. I considered taking part in some of the boozing myself, but like I said earlier, I was trying to make this a surfing weekend, not a drinking weekend, so I passed. Instead I decided to take another trip down to Santa Cruz - and once again I had the NorCal Burropak members joining me.

I ended up getting outta SF around 1. Christina and her friend from USF came along with me, hoping to get some nice time on the beach in the sun while I surfed. We drove down 101, then cut over to 17 at Mountain View, and then we were there. Took about the same time as driving HW 1. We parked at 4-mile and hiked on in to the beach and there was Nic, Mike, and Selin loungin' on the sand lookin' nice and relaxed. I ended up sitting in the sand too - and that set back my surfing another half hour because it was just too nice to sit there on the beach with the sun coming down...I couldn't bring myself to put on the wetsuit and get out in the water. But after watching some fun waves go through and a few minutes after Nic and Mike hit it, I followed suit.

The weather today was less windy and sunny in the beginning, but soon a fog came in and it started getting pretty hard to see. Visibility was only maybe a couple hundred yards, but enough that it wasn't hard to make out the waves. The chicas on the beach lost their sunshine and decided to take my car on into town to have some girl-type fun (i.e. shopping) and they took off (bummer, because they were our photogs - I was hoping to score a Surfer Magazine cover shot). It was foggy for an hour or so, then it started burning off and the weather was nice again. The waves were fun - 4-mile is a nice wave, it forms outside and breaks and if it's big enough and walled up enough it really flies right all the way to the inside. I caught quite a few nice rides and I am feeling very confident in my surfing right now. Confidence is highly important in surfing - once you start doubting that you will make it, you're pretty much insuring that you won't. Additionally, without confidence, you won't go sit in the deep spots, which in lots of places is where you have to sit in order to score the best waves. So I'm feeling good and I think my surfing is improving also. I'd love to make a trip back to Hawaii for a decent country swell and see how I do there, just to see if it's me making improvements or if I'm just feeling like I'm better because the waves are easier to surf. Speaking of that, we need a Burropak reunion soon. You Hawaii members (since there are fewer of you) will need to come to Cali. See ya in a bit!

We ended up surfing until around 7 or so I think, then went into town and met the girls and had icecream and then I drove back up to SF on HW 1. On the way up we still had an hour or so of light so I stopped at a few nice looking spots - Waddell Creek stood out - it looked pretty good for surfing, there were several spots breaking very nice with nobody out, and one spot with a group of friends having a good time. It was a nice drive to end a very nice surfing weekend...and I am feeling refreshed and happy about life.

Pau-Hana Rockaway

Session: 13
Date: Thursday, May 5, 2005
Place: Rockaway Beach, Pacifica
Time: After work ‘til 7:30
Waves: Good, fun, up to head high
Stokemeter: 8

After work drove up the coast looking at spots, got all the way to Rockaway and was glad I went that far. 1 guy was out there when I first showed up, sort of. He was a kayaker and he was trying to get out past the shore-break but he just kept on getting hit and washed back up the sand. Anyway he never did make it out to the waves. I went out and the waves were good. Really fun, had decent take-offs and a nice wall going along to my right. Occasionally I rode a wave in a bit too far and got tossed into the sand – hello shore-break. It never got crowded, never more than 2 other guys out with me at a time. Everyone was friendly too, so it was a good session. I was the 7’2” Cino and it is a fun board to ride. If Rockaway can stay this good for the summer then I will have a great place to go surf after work.

Montara, plus BOARD HISTORY!

Session: 12
Date: Sunday, 5/1/05
Place: Montara
Time: Again around 2 or so until around 4 or 5
Waves: Rather Scarce, not very big
Stokemeter: 6 (due to the nice weather)

Again a beautiful day, but this time I didn’t get the same level of cooperation from the ocean. It was nice and sunny and calm and clear again – but just not as many good waves. I bought a new (used) wetsuit today also from Sonlight Surfshop in Pacifica. I for some reason didn’t have access to mine – and wanted to surf – so I just went and got a 3/2 suit. It was only $70 and it will be nice to have in the summer months when the 4/3 suit will simply be too hot. Even now I have had to unzip my 4/3 a little bit to let in some cold water to keep from overheating, on occasion. It is a good quality O’Neill wetsuit and I think a good purchase.

Anyway, as I said, the waves just didn’t work out this time. I met Nic and Mike at Montara and they had already been out for around 30 minutes, but hadn’t gotten many rides to show for their time. Anyway I got out and was immediately greeted by a very long flat spell, the first of many. But the weather was so nice that it didn’t matter. I fortunately put on some sun-screen – Mike didn’t, and I’m not sure about Nic – but I saw Mike later and he was a little crispy. Today I got to ride Christina’s 7’2” Cino board (Thanks Christina!) and it is a very nice board. Thick, so it paddles nicely and catches waves fairly well (but not like Nic’s longboard) and once in the wave it feels responsive and fast. To be honest, I really haven’t ridden that many boards in my surfing career…Let me make a list of boards I have ridden at least a few times (as best I can remember – and the order might be a bit mixed up).

-10’6” or something Classic beater longboard. 2+1 fin setup, I think. A complete battleship of a board. Huge, caught everything, couldn’t turn to save it’s life (but I wasn’t good enough to turn anyway).

-9’0” Wave Riding Vehicles higher performance longboard. Thruster fin set-up. I was allowed to ride this board a little bit until it was taken away from me by crazy woman Lyn. This board was very fun to ride and I enjoyed it. I still wasn’t good enough to do much with it, but it sure turned easier than the 10’6 Classic.

-9’6” Hansen Triple-stringer longboard. 2+1 fin setup. I think this might have been the first board I bought. Got it from Lyn – she liked me I guess at this time because it was a good deal. Anyway I rode it a bit and didn’t initially like it. I found out later that it was partially because I had the fins setup all wrong – with the center fin way forward in the fin box. Buddy helped me move them several months later and it was like it was a whole new board. After the fin move, this was one of my longboards of choice for small Tonggs and neighboring breaks when I was starting to become a more accomplished surfer.

-8’6” Classic longboard. This was a very unique board and has become one of my sentimental favorites. Thruster fin setup. Broken in half and repaired at some point and purchased at a garage sale in Kailua for $75. I rode this a lot and it helped me get much better with general wave skills. Also almost everything I know about board repair I learned on this board. It had so many dings and little problems it was like a floating wreck. It was also very old-school, yellow, and with some cool 80’s or early 90’s inspired designs on it. When Nic came to visit, it was his board to ride, and he rode it alright, rode it into 2 pieces. He broke it in half at Old Man’s when we were surfing there with Mike on about a 2-4 ft Hawaiian south swell. Ahhh what fun that was. Anyway I then made a table out of it and then I moved to Cali and had to leave it behind and then Josh threw it in the dump.

-7’10” FSC funshape. Thruster. Great board. Took my surfing to the next level. Matt and Mike always wanted to ride it but I never let them. I remember when I first went out to Rice Bowls – this board made me feel confident enough to take on that much more advanced break. On this board I could still paddle like on a longboard, but then it was so much more nimble on the wave. It was the perfect board for me at the level I was at – a great way to get on something smaller and more responsive than a long board without the trouble of flailing around on a typical shortboard shape for months on end. I really liked this board and surfed it A LOT while developing my skills.

-7’2” Dick Brewer Mini-Gun. Thruster, pintail. What was I thinking – that I was gonna go surf double-overhead pipe?? This board would have been perfect for that – but for me and my skill level it was fairly useless. The board was an impulse buy, got it for $80 I think from a guy at Hickam AFB. I do remember taking it out a couple times on 3 to 4 ft Hawaii swells and enjoying it – but I really wasn’t a strong enough paddler to make this very thin and very narrow board move much. But, if I could get it into a wave, it felt extremely stable. The pintail made it really hold well. All in all though, not the right board for me or for the surf I was taking on.

-6’10” S. Rotella Stinger-Fish. This has been my board of choice ever since I got it. I remember when I first took it out – Diamond Head, nothing that big. I struggled with it for at least 10 waves, then got a nice one and it was so loose through the wave – I was gliding along and going up and down like I had never done before. I bought it almost new – it was custom shaped for some girl but she didn’t like it for whatever reason – so I got it for I believe $325. It doesn’t really look like it’s 6’10”, but it does float and paddle very well. It is a fish shape, so it is a bit wider through the whole board than a shortboard of the same length would be. It’s about 2 5/8 thick, I think. The tail tapers down to a small swallow-tail with the stingers bringing it in just above the fins. I have surfed everywhere and everything on this board – it has been pretty much my staple board for the last almost what, 2 years? I have used it on waves from maybe 6-8 Hawaiian to ankle high, on soft shoulders, in barrels, North Shore, South Shore, East Side, West Side, Frontside, Backside, Santa Cruz, HMB, Pacifica, soon to be San Francisco too. An excellent board that is starting to show it’s heavy use – I have had to repair the same fin plug twice, have fixed multiple dings, it has numerous pressure dings, and worst of all is suffering from some pretty bad delamination which I am considering trying to repair myself sometime soon. The board has been out of commission for a couple weeks now due to my laziness in repairs, and I am really missing it.

-7’2” Cino funboard/shortboard shape. Thruster. Christina’s board – she named it Jack. I have loved this board too, from the first time I rode it. I got it for Christina to use and she really likes it – but since she doesn’t surf nearly enough I make sure it sees the water every now and then. It’s a very pretty board with the shiny glass job that looks good. It surfs great too – I really like it and if possible I try to use it if available for the bigger stuff. An excellent board – Use it more Christina!! And thanks for letting me use it too.

-6’1” J. Poko Shortboard. Thruster. Wafer Thin, a super small potato chip board. Mike bought it when he was thinking he was Rob Machado, and then he found out that he’s really a 200+ pound chunk of meat who wouldn’t be able to make this thing float in the Dead Sea. So since I’m ~20 lbs. lighter I thought I’d make it work, and I took it off his hands for a good price and have tried to master it. I think that I have found it is too small for me too. I seem to bog it down, even when I get in a good wave. It is super snappy though and still fun to ride, but I think I really need a little bit thicker and longer board. But try riding this for a couple weeks – then go back to your regular board – and your surfing will be so much better it’s pretty amazing! The Poko requires you to do many things right – and due to it’s small size is very unforgiving. When you transfer that over to the larger board it makes surfing it seem very easy.

So that’s the list. There are more, but I’ve only ridden them a couple times so I don’t know enough to really list them. I have lots of learning to do on boards and fins and gear – I will be going into surfshops and talking with the guys more often to get more knowledge.

I'm Back! New Home, New Sessions!

NOTE: I have been busy the last couple weeks with a move to a new home in SF. As a result I have been seriously slacking on my surfblog postings. So seriously slacking that the last few sessions have become a bit jumbled in my memory. But I will do my best to re-create – here goes.

On another note, I finally have a place to call my own. I recommend everyone spend 3 months living out of their car and crashing at friend’s places – only after living the nomad life will one truly appreciate having a real home – with a bed, and places to put things, and some space to spread out, and a door to close for privacy…ah, no more dining room for Joel! The place is nice – for anyone interested in Keyholing it or coming over or anything else - the address is 1243A 14th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122.

Now let’s get out in the water…

Session: 11
Date: Sunday, 4/24/05
Place: Montara
Time: 2 or so, until about 4 or 5 (Beautiful Weather!)
Waves: Pretty good, some around shoulder high maybe
Stokemeter: 8

This was a very beautiful day. No wind, no clouds, nice blue water, a pretty secluded beach, not many people, and pretty good waves. I went to Montara with Nic and Mike, and it was very smooth, calm, and peaceful. We surfed in the middle area, along with no more than a couple other guys. There were a decent amount of waves, and since I was riding Nic’s longboard I was able to gobble up more than my fair share. A couple of them produced very memorable rides, on which I felt good and (according to Nic) looked good too. I once again enjoyed riding the longboard and felt really good on it. I am considering having Vernor custom-shape me something similar. I went into Aqua Surf Shop in SF a bit ago and they quoted me at about $470 – not bad for a brand new custom longboard – especially considering how hard they are to find around here with newbies snapping them up like they’re made of pure gold. I bet I could buy it for $470, surf it for a year and take good care of it, and turn around and sell it on Craigslist for I bet $350 or more. This was a very enjoyable session and a beautiful day – creating the nice high stokemeter of 8. If only the weather (and the waves) would cooperate so much everyday!