What a weekend!  Great contest!!  Good on ya Nat!!

That one backhand vertical snap was killer….yeah you know which one too.

While the contest down south was in full swing with Middle Peak starting to show we were getting hit with some large surf up here.  I woke up around 7am, suited up and jogged down to the beach.  I didn’t hear much and thought the surf was a bit smaller than the 2-4ft the day before.

As I got my first glance I slowed to a walk and then stopped in awe as the ocean was alive with huge waves breaking in the 15ft-20ft+ range.  The outer reefs which lie about a half mile out were feathering on the sets and way up in Marin you could see a couple bombies and the trail of spray hanging there from way over near Bolinas as if it was suspended and not moving.  I sat there with my 6′5″ watching to see if there was a chance I wasn’t undergunned when another guy walked up for the morning check and said he sure hoped I had a big board….apparently not big enough.  The tide was high and so after watching for 4o minutes and feeling defeated I decided to go back home and either wait for the tide to drop or go to other locales that would be more manageable.

Here is a shot later in the day as the tide dropped.  This was taken on the north side of the beach and was a bit smaller than the swell that was getting in further south. Looks like a big dump and full on stand up pit.  No takers.

So the goods turned out to be just around the corner in a special place designed specifically for the hardy local bunch.

The stories about getting sucked out around the bridge and having to come in over boulders with huge shore pound are a plenty at this spot.  Also a plenty are the stories of localism at this spot that breaks pretty infrequently and has a narrow takeoff zone.  I have a sequence of the guy in the photos sitting deep getting dropped in on as he came around the boil and then pushing the guy who dropped in on him off his board.  They just missed nailing each other…bound to happen with the twelve guys all sitting on one peak.

When you do get in position for a set you have to be careful about which ones you grab for obvious reasons.  The Big boulder in the wave is what you will face taking off too deep or too far outside.

The inside had some nicely shaped walls and the select few would even hold up to be taken apart by the skilled riders like the one in the picture below.

After checking this break, down south on Sunday was a piece of cake.  It is so perfect down there and the biggest hazard is the crowds.  I surfed for five hours+ on Sunday and got my fill…atleast for a day or two.  Not looking forward to the time change next week when my window of opportunity will be drastically reduced.

That’s gonna be me…all weekend long.

HOOT!

Awoke before the crack of dawn to almost balmy weather for these parts. Grabbed my 6′5″ not knowing how much swell would have squeezed in and hoped for the best.

Needless to say, I was pleasantly greeted by spitting barrels. Its funny too, cause I was just talking about them and its not all the time that the tide and swell come together to create those types of waves. It wasn’t big…about 2-4ft but perfectly shaped. Within the first few minutes I saw probably five waves that spat…one right on me as I duck dove to get outside. The water was a little chilly and I was one of three guys out at 7am. I guess everyone slept in a little not knowing what to expect after a couple days of wind.

I was stoked as I had a peak all to myself that had a nice fast right and bowly left. I had some great rides and stayed out as long as I could. More and more people began to show up and share in the fun. I had a killer bottom turn on the wave of the morning that made me feel like a superstar but unfortunately went too high and overshot the lip skidding out as I attempted a cutback/snap. Got too excited I guess. It had been awhile since I had glassy perfection. I also had a nice snap on a left hander that got me excited…this time didn’t blow it. Timed it nicely just under the lip and had a no look back torquing thwack. Good ego boost! I love those moments that stand out in your sessions. Thinking back…it’s interesting the surf moments that get branded in your psyche. Good times!

Looks like more swell on the way for this weekend. Cold Water Classic in Santa Cruz should keep the crowds just right.

So it was small, but dude…you can’t complain. The crowd was right! I was stoked…got three morning sessions mid week the best of which was this day. My last wave before I headed off to work was killer. I took off on a lil right that was perfectly shaped and speedy. As soon as I got to my feet I pumped quickly to get up high on the face and with the lip cascading just behind my back leg barely touching it I was able to stay just ahead of the lip. I raced up and down pumping down the line when I saw my opportunity for a head dip and slowly glided down to the mid point of the face…I softly slid my hand onto the wall feeling it as it rose up above and over my head…got a couple seconds of the corner and then stood up as I shot out onto a little shoulder….did a slow mo cutback to the foam and then jumped on my belly to ride in. Great way to start my day. It looked just like this right hander below.

Getting up for the early tomorrow again…wish me luck and stayed tuned…Thanks for the motivation Duggar!

I’m stoked for the Wellman’s but these photos are painful to look at. Old surf pal Tom and his family moved to Bali recently, bought some land and are now living the good life.

One can only imagine how spoiled one could get having waves like this in your backyard. I mean I’m not complaining, but Impossible perfection such as this is incredibly rare if not literally impossible here at OB.

Good on ya Tom! Catch one for me…make it a few, and don’t let those groms show you up. Experience counts, especially when it matters.

Not the Binlang variety…but rather the air and water droplets and vapor expelled from a collapsing tube, barrel, keg what have you. We all have our special names for them.

The past couple weeks here in Norcal we’ve had our fair share of SPIT producing waves. I was out last week and snapped a few photos. I am waiting for my day to get spat out.

There was one day last year where I was doing some real Brian Conley type tube traveling….full on 75 to 100 yard rides under the cover of warbling walls and long pits. Think about that day often cause I haven’t surfed as perfect a day since. It was about 4-6ft backs, no wind, sunny and barreling the whole way.

Something to look forward to as we come upon our season here.

This last shot is kind of cool. No one out for you to gauge size except a flock of Pelicans. Don’t forget their wingspan is about 7ft and so this wave is pretty solid…and if you look closely you can see the Spittle about to be ejected. Hoot!!

This past weekend we were greeted with some winter sized surf that gave those lucky enough to get a taste of it a pre-season warm up.  OB had some good waves breaking on Sunday down on the south end.  Probably about 5 guys out including a bodyboarder that lost his board pulling into a good sized one and had to swim in from about mid way out.  There were a bunch of well selected rides and the only other casualty, aside from the bodyboarders leash, was a thousand pound Elephant seal that had washed up probably the day before in storm surf.

Mavericks broke as well and you can see what that looked like on Surfline.com

Looks like we are off to a good start.

Santa Cruz had some good waves too over the weekend and the past couple days.  Checked the cams today and saw some mean off the tops as I settled into my office chair.   Torturous!