Yesterday, Jacob and I went surfing with his co-workers, Jana, Tim and Stolte. We drove by LM and it was packed and headed further south to the Jetty. It was uncrowded with clean lines at low tide. About an hour and half into the session, the wind and tide turned making the waves blown out. 

It was perfect timing because we needed to get food for our seafood grill out. We ended up with salmon, tuna, sea bass and oysters. We had a bunch of people come over to enjoye grilled food and Jacob's home brew.

Ride Waves and Spread the Swell,
J-Bird

This morning I was suppose to dawn patrol with Luke and Cynthia at Dunes, but I didn't set my alarm for the correct time.

Later this afternoon, I was able to get in a fun session with a new surfing buddy, Dugen. We have been corresponding the past few weeks about surfing together.

We searched for waves and ended up at Linda Mar even though it wasn't that great. We figured we had put effort into meeting up so we were going to go surfing anyway. I caught some fun lefts and a lot of drops ins into closed out waves. Dugen has only been surfing for 6 months but caught a couple little ones. Unfortunately, he cut his wetsuit with a fin and has to get it repaired.

When we got out of the water, Dugen said "That was fun!" That is what surfing is about…FUN!

Ride Waves and Spread the Swell,
J-Bird

Jacob and I went to a fun spot south of the JT. We found an uncrowded spot with clean peelers and occasional barrels.

We caught a bunch of fun ones but the most memorable ride was my "semi barrel." I am not sure if I can call it a barrel or really deep in the pocket. Jacob saw me drop in and paddled by me as I bottom turned. I saw the wave go over me for about 2 seconds. He agrees that I was really deep on the wave, but can't confirm if I was in the barrel. By no means was it an epic barrel like pipeline, but it was a fun wave and probably one of my best in awhile. 

Jacob got a bunch of fast smooth lefts. The tide came up pretty quickly and wave size dropped. A fun way to start the morning and now I really want to get a real barrel!

Ride Waves and Spread the Swell,
J-Bird

This morning I was planning for a dawn patrol session, but my body wouldn't wake up. I decided to get a lot of work done and go for a late afternoon session with Darren at Linda Mar.

The surf looked really crumbly from the shore, but I didn't have much time so we decided to suit up and go. Once we were in the water, the water was even choppier than it looked. At first I was having a hard time deciphering what was a wave and what was wind chop. Finally, the set waves came in and we caught a bunch. The waves were fast drops that turned into close out right away or slow moving shoulders that would get mixed up in the chop.

Even though the conditions weren't ideal, I was happy to get into the water and catch waves. Surfing is my drug and if I don't get a fix, I am very grumpy.

Ride Waves and Spread the Swell,
J-Bird

Capitola - 1.21
Yesterday, Jacob and I woke up early for a dawn patrol session, but there huge close outs everywhere. Later in the day, I met up with Cynthia and Darren at Capitola. I had never been there so Cynthia informed me that it is usually a pretty mellow long board wave with a good vibe. When we arrived, it was head high to over head with larger set waves coming in. There were a lot more short boarders out there than expected.

Cynthia and I started on the outside of the break to avoid the inside white water. We eventually ended over in the break and I caught a really nice right. After that wave, Cynthia got run over by a short boarder! Her wetsuit was cut and resulted in a bruised leg. I caught another one all the way in and got caught on the inside as the big set waves rolled in. The guy next to me shouted, "Ice cream headache!" I just laughed and agreed. 

I paddled back out and as I was waiting for another wave a different short boarder was paddling towards me from about 4 feet away. I tried to sprint paddle past him so I wouldn't hit him or get hit by the wave. Apparently, the short boarder didn't see me or hear me shout, "I  am in front of you…going get out of your way!" He continued to paddle towards me and ran right into me. He started swearing, pounding the water and was really aggressive. I apologized right away and told him I was trying to get out of his way as fast as I could. He continued to swear and was only concerned about his board being hurt. He didn't even ask if I was ok. I was really shocked at his behavior and reiterated that I was truly sorry. He continued to lecture me and at that point I decided to paddle away. I felt that I said sorry enough and that I had the right intentions of trying to get out of his way. This was the first time I had ever had a problem in the water. I am very conscious of my surroundings and surf etiquette. This experience definitely shook me up, but I stayed in the water and caught two more nice waves and decided to call it a day.

38th - 1.22
Jacob and I headed down to Santa Cruz to surf and meet up with our friends, Jay and Rachel. When we arrived, the tide was too high so we had lunch and long board skateboarded around SC for awhile. We hung out at Cowells and watched the massive crowd of surfers. Jay and Rachel don't surf, but were asking about surfing and want us to teach them how to surf. We are going to teach them as soon as they have time and are ready to learn.

Around 4:30, Jacob and I decided to go to 38th and it looked really nice and the crowd wasn't too bad. We paddled out and got some nice head high long rights. It was a great way to end a fun day with friends in Santa Cruz.

When we got back from surfing, we heard about the surfer that almost drowned at Mavericks today (15 foot waves) and we are definitely praying for him and his family. 

Ride Waves and Spread the Swell,
J-Bird