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.