Latest Surfs...

[oldmansurfer]

I went out today. The conditions were nice no wind glassy water but not much of a swell. There were intermittent waves and some overhead and I managed to catch two waves and did a bunch of carving turns on both of them. I caught another two waves that I was too deep and couldn't keep up. I am not sure how it is that I know how to do the turns I do. I have surfed a lot of hours but often when I surf it seems to me from my perspective I am just along for the ride and some other force does all the surfing. Anyway that other force did some nice turns. On my second good wave I took the drop and made my bottom turn then I was riding along for an instant with the wave breaking above me kind of crumbling break but nice long wall wave and suddenly I knew I could make a top turn from that position. How did I know that? Not sure I just did it. Then a bunch of other turns flowed out of me all over the wave. It felt great. Not perfect but okay for an old fart with a bum shoulder.

[Yamabushi170]

I went out today. The conditions were nice no wind glassy water but not much of a swell. There were intermittent waves and some overhead and I managed to catch two waves and did a bunch of carving turns on both of them. I caught another two waves that I was too deep and couldn't keep up. I am not sure how it is that I know how to do the turns I do. I have surfed a lot of hours but often when I surf it seems to me from my perspective I am just along for the ride and some other force does all the surfing. Anyway that other force did some nice turns. On my second good wave I took the drop and made my bottom turn then I was riding along for an instant with the wave breaking above me kind of crumbling break but nice long wall wave and suddenly I knew I could make a top turn from that position. How did I know that? Not sure I just did it. Then a bunch of other turns flowed out of me all over the wave. It felt great. Not perfect but okay for an old fart with a bum shoulder.

"The only thing you can assume about a broken down old man is that he's a survivor."

It sounds like you've got a fair bit of surfing experience under your belt? How much have you learned intuitively through trial and error and simply knowing your own body, and how much has been empirical technical instruction?

[oldmansurfer]

I am apparently not the average surfer. I have never had any surf lessons but I did grow up in the ocean and started riding waves bodysurfing at about 9 years old. When I started surfing on surfboards it was just myself and I never surfed anywhere near anyone else until I could already ride unbroken waves. I also learned on a shortboard however it was much longer than the body board I used prior

[oldmansurfer]

I went out to outside Blackrock today about 500 to 600 yard paddle out after missing last weekend due to sore shoulder. The water was warm and the sky was blue with fluffy white clouds. There was an intermittent swell so spent a lot of time waiting and drifting out of place. I think I was the only non foil or SUP person out there. I caught two waves did a cutback on one and fell on the second attempt due to not enough speed. The second wave had broken already but it was time to go in so I caught the whitewater and popped up at the bottom of the wave after the board quit bouncing around so much then rode the wave pretty much straight in because it quit breaking. I did manage to ride it more than 100 yards with no breaking part on the wave and perhaps no obvious swell in the last part but once you get moving you just need to stay in front the the little lump in the water so I went out toward the nose and did a bunch of hops to push the nose down the bump in the water, I call it a bump because it didn't really look like a wave just an ankle high bump that I kept my weight in front of. Good exercise and good to get some ocean therapy in. Hope you all had a good weekend

[Yamabushi170]

This weekend I headed out to Joss Bay in Broadstairs, UK for my second attempt at surfing solo. My first time was on pretty much flat water, just to practice moving around on the board, paddling etc.
This time my plan was to spend some time with real waves, developing the basic skills and to hopefully get a few attempts to pop up. The water wasn't perfect but adequate for a beginner. The waves were about 2 feet at 7 second intervals so that was more than enough of a challenge for myself. I arrived by about 0830 after a 65 mile drive from London in a grey dawn with not much chance of seeing the sun throughout the day.
Plunging into the water at about 0900, I was now contending with not just the waves and the cold (a far cry from my surfing holiday in Portugal) but also the water was quite choppy so it was a challenge initially to handle the board without falling all over the place and looking like an absolute cretin. But of course despite all of this I had a damn good time. Most of the time was spent trying to maintain balance while clumsily paddling to keep myself in position, and practicing my situational awareness by looking alternately over both shoulders without falling off my board! I noticed that the water broke out both left and right pretty much from the centreline of the harbour and that I could keep position by placing myself directly opposite the access road which leads down to the beach.
Eventually I did manage to catch a bunch of decent waves, which felt really great as I was picked up and accelerated like a rocket but I did a pretty terrible job of trying to pop up. That's something I'll just have to keep working on. I still feel kind of glued to the board which makes standing feel like a really arduous task. Because of this I'm just not moving myself with the lightness and flexibility to allow me to stand. It seems therefore that I need to really develop my balance so I'll do more drills focussed around that. I know that I need to get my back foot much further forwards and to raise my hips so I can my front foot through. This works fine when I'm practicing on my living room floor but clearly being on a board wobbling all over the place in the water is a different level of difficulty altogether.
There's not much else to report other than that it was a fantastic two hours and I sang along to my car stereo with a big smile on my face as I drove back to London.

Excelsior!

[oldmansurfer]

I went out two weekends ago and paddled approximately 500 yards out to blackrock and didn't really catch much of a wave paddled back in. Good exercise. Past weekend didn't surf due to flash flood warnings in the area. This weekend had stormy surf. I intended to go out yesterday but took a nap and ended up sleeping away till it was late and then had to go work. Today it was stormy but there were waves coming in. It was the usual matter of figuring out what to do to be lined up when they come in. I had a few waves that I was close to being in the right place some too far in some too far out and then 3 waves that I messed up on. First one I hit a bump popping up and my back foot was in the wrong place so went to correct it and hit a bump while my foot was off the board and got off balance and fell. The second one was a closeout and I was going to try to do a floater but was off balance and had to eject. Third one I didn't popup soon enough and got tossed by the lip airborne and had to push board away from me, However i love it when the waves are like that. All this chaos with me in the middle safe and sound. It's both exciting and relaxing.

[hauck]

Just got back from Ericeira, Foz do Lizandro. Nice beach, nice waves, I liked it.

[oldmansurfer]

I had a Thanksgivings day surf. There wasn't much wind so should have been good and there were some good waves coming in. My neighbor paddled out with me. He caught all the good waves LOL Well okay I had one decent wave. My timing was off, couldn't line up the wave right. I got worked on the inside when I went in. Was riding whitewater and went too far in ended up over the reef and had to stand on the reef and got some small cuts on the bottom of my feet. One that is bad enough to make me want to bandage it. I may have also stubbed my toe because it's all bruised up and I don't recall stubbing it anywhere else LOL That is one thing I find as I get older. I get injured easily then have to figure out when it happened LOL This is definitely the worst surfing injury I have had in a long time. I got a really good workout and came in so out of breath. I was thinking I was straying in shape but obviously not . So overall stubbed toe and some small cuts and the best wave all month not to mention good exercise and I get to be in the ocean. It's worth it. Funny, about a couple years ago I was out at the same place with the same neighbor and I was the one catching the good waves. Anyway hope you all had a good Thanksgivings day

[oldmansurfer]

I figured out when was the last time I was injured worse. It was a few years ago when a SUP slammed my big toe splitting my toe nail down the middle. My toe nail still has a notch in it.

[oldmansurfer]

I went out today in double overhead stormy conditions. My first wave was pretty good, I did like 5 cutbacks or top turns on it. Pretty steep drop too fun but I found myself riding more forward on the board which seems to help cut through the chop. I had a late drop on another wave which I didn't make but thought you might be interested in how i handled it. It was a double overhead wave maybe bigger at least 12 foot face so the first half of the drop I was okay then went airborne. One or maybe both of my feet came off the board but reconnected at the bottom. However I could tell my weight wasn't over the board when I landed so pushed the board out of the way and continued going down. I penetrated deep underwater and the wave broke over the top of me leaving me unaffected. I didn't get pulled by my board or bounced around and came up to the surface and pulled my board to me as if it were some wave of much less significance. The conditions were dangerous so I went in a little early because I wanted to have a little more reserve energy on board in case I got in trouble and I was starting to get tired from paddling against the current all the time. Still got good exercise. and it was good to be in the ocean.

[oldmansurfer]

I was so tired yesterday I didn't post. Had to get my house ready for tent fumigation. I went out yesterday and the waves were really nice. I opted to go to the middle of the bay where there were rights breaking but lots of surfers so I went to a part with no surfers. There were intermittent waves coming in but I couldn't line them up properly. Mostly where i was it was closing out but there were some waves I never caught any good waves or maybe I did but by then my leg was cramping and I couldn't popup properly. I finally caught some whitewater in. Most likely I should have gone to outside Horners because it was huge and lots of unridden waves but I wanted rights. They were towing in out there in the Big right section way out. That wave is very difficult to catch sometimes. To be fair to myself the waves were nicer than usual so I had difficulty figuring out if I was in the right place too far in or too far out. Normally it's stormy onshore winds and I have that kind of wave down much more.

[wavesreport]

Nice waves lately in San Diego... Take a look Ocean Beach yesterday!

[oldmansurfer]

I went out today but didn't catch a wave unless you count whitewater into the shore. There were waves but it was stormy and there was a strong current. I wasn't able to keep in place long enough to catch a wave and got swept out of position becoming unable to get back to my original lineup due to the current. There were numerous other peaks coming in up the line but after being unable to line any of them up I came in once i got a little tired. So just to be sure I wasn't in danger although the conditions were dangerous. I decided to go back in once I was slightly tired due to uncertainty about the near shore conditions where i would end up coming in. There were many factors that came into my decision making 1 is I'm getting old and less durable, 2 is I have a bad shoulder although it isn't bothering me surfing it could be an issue , 3 is I am not in top physical conditioning due to many factors the latest being no surf last weekend due to getting over a virus, 4 is there was a super strong current and big enough wave to make it a little sketchy (8 to 10 foot faces). Anyway I never felt in danger but made the decision to avoid putting myself into a situation where I would truly be in danger. But I still got some time in the ocean trying to lineup and trying to catch and paddling most of the time I was out. That's all I want is a chance to catch a wave. And my ocean therapy my saltwater soak and massage of the breaking waves over my body. I feel great. Looking forward to 3 day holiday coming up. Hope you all can catch some waves

[BoMan]

That's all I want is a chance to catch a wave. And my ocean therapy my saltwater soak and massage of the breaking waves over my body. I feel great. Looking forward to 3 day holiday coming up. Hope you all can catch some waves

I admire your approach to surfing. Too often I check the forecasts and don't go when the conditions look bad. But my BEST sessions happened when I was leaning toward not going and then just thought "F*%$ IT" and made the drive anyway. It's fantastic to find 2-3 glass and nobody out when you're expecting the worst.

[tomthetreeman]

This was the last time we had waves, or the day before. Might’ve been one session since this one. This was the end of a bigger swell, high tide at Conant Ave, I want to say last Tuesday. This dude Bob that I know from the lineup took a couple pics, unbeknownst to me, then left a note on my car with his email. Kinda cool.

[oldmansurfer]

I went surfing yesterday. Didn't get to surf during my 3 days off for Christmas due to rain and heavy flooding including a new batch of tree trunks on the beach and very muddy water. I went yesterday and caught a few waves but nothing to note. What I can remember is the first wave I had my leash stuck between my toes so I just did a bunch of cruising turns. The second wave I had to get forward on the board to get down the face fast enough and did a moderate bottom turn to top turn foam climb then went to move my back foot more back and slipped my back foot off the board. My wave in I rode it too far inside well not really but didn't negotiate the inside break aggressively enough because it was small, only head high and got swept over the shallow reef area again. No deleterious effects however. Another 3 day holiday coming up

[oldmansurfer]

This new year started pretty good. I managed to help my neighbor find his dog that ran away due to fireworks. After that not so well I got a phone call that my brother died and then really needing to go surf I loaded up the car and found it wouldn't start. Took me all day charging and testing the battery. Battery was good found a mechanic will to come to my house to check out my car and he found a relay switch that was stuck. Car started but still needed to replace switch and starter. Then I managed to go out surfing 2 days and did not catch a single good wave during those sessions. On both sessions there were good waves but I was unable to catch them just kind of kooked out. Oh well I did get good exercise and practice trying to figure out the lineup. Maybe next weekend.

[oldmansurfer]

I went out Sunday and caught a few waves. It was about waist to shoulder high and no really good waves. Managed to do a cutback on one wave but I was forced to because the wave flattened out and then had to run up on the nose to keep going. I attempted a foam climb on another wave but failed it. All in all junk waves but much better than sitting at home wishing I was surfing

[oldmansurfer]

Beautiful day today. Sunny and very little wind and a lot of swell coming in. Great conditions and so thought a bunch of other surfers...... so much that I had difficulty finding parking. There were a lot of surfers out at everywhere I wanted to surf ( a lot meaning 8 surfers out at each spot there were three female surfers in the break next to me )but fortunately there were lots of little breaks all over the place. There was an area with lots of left breaking peaks that no one was riding so I paddled out there. I only caught two reasonable waves the first one I did a bottom turn to off the lip followed by 3 carving top turns. Considering the wave was only head high at it's highest I am not sure if I could have done that riding frontside but then it's rare for me to get on a good frontside wave. The last wave was looking like a closeout but I managed to do an off the lip and then another off the lip kind of foam climb. Really not sure what I could have done frontside on a wave like that but probably not as well. I was in position for a really good wave and my hands slipped off on the popup probably from sunscreen on that part of the board and that dropped my weight back making me miss the wave. Oh yeah there was a third wave I forgot on my very first wave I went to popup but the board got tossed a little so I rode it with one knee down and the other foot up like a dropknee style bodyboarder. Well anyway my first good wave in a while. This makes all the other days without good waves worthwhile as they helped to keep me from getting to far out of shape. I'm good for a while more without good waves.

[oldmansurfer]

For the past week the conditions have been nice and there has been a nice small swell running the whole time. Today there was no wind and no parking, had to go to my backup spot even though I tried to get there early (for me). It was crowded so I went to Black Rock which I shared with 1` or 2 SUP surfers but generally they were at different places then me. I should have probably caught a lot more waves but because there was no wind I had a hard time figuring out if the wave was going to break or not. It took me a while to learn to ignore the dark shadow below the lip which usually means it's going to break and just turn around and paddle because what it really means is if I paddle I will catch the wave whether it breaks or not. I caught only 3 waves but there was along paddle out and in so I got a workout. The first wave was head high and just a cruise no real turns. The second wave didn't break but I turned a bit, it actually broke inside but I didn't get to that part of the wave and ended up losing power. The third wave was the longest and right before it came in a school of fish probably akule were jumping out of the water nearby. It sounded like clapping from a large audience. Something was chasing them so it was time to go in since they were about 30 yards away and coming closer. The last wave was bigger and crumbly but sectiony and I didn't really do much turns but enough to keep up with it and stay on it till it petered out.